g77 install problem on an i386 platform running FreeBSD 4.2.xO/S

[Joseph Maxwell <jemaxwell at jaymax dot com>]

Hello,
Have been having problems installing gcc v3.2.3  on a FreeBSD: O/S,
vers. 4.x on a platform with i386 architecture. Was receiving some
assistance from a "Maintainer of GNU Fortran 77" and had followed his
directions explicitly. The tarball had been downloaded from the
gcc.gnu.org site and ran in to the problem(s) listed below. His comments
and suggestions are also included, as to the oddity of the stdout.

Additional help is being sought from the broader community, or is this a
"bug".
Thanks
--  Joe  --
_______________

PS: Explicit installation steps being followed:


     $ tar zxf gcc-3.2.3.tar.gz
     $ mkdir obj
     $ cd obj
     $ ../gcc-3.2.3/configure
     $ make bootstrap
     $ su
     Password: [your root password]
     # make install


> Joseph Maxwell wrote:
>
> > Following your instructions explicitly, in Step 5: '$ make
> bootstrap' an Error
> > code 1 was generated fairly early,
> > the stdout was as follows:
> >
> >      Bootstrapping the compiler
> >      make CC="gcc" libdir=/usr/local/lib LANGUAGES="c"  CFLAGS="-g"
> >      MAKEINFO="makeinfo "  MAKEINFOFLAGS=""
> >      (cd ../../gcc-3.2.3/gcc && autoconf)
> >      autoconf: not found
> >      *** Error code 127
>
> Hmmm, this certainly is not correct.  A release tar file should be
> such
> that users do not need the autoconf program to build gcc from source.
> I'm a bit puzzled, because other people who try 3.2.3 are not
> reporting
> this problem (it should be the same for everyone).
>
> Perhaps posting this snippet to the gcc@gcc.gnu.org list will spark
> some
> insight ....
>