I finally got tdeutils to build on Arch. The old version of libtool in the GIT tree does not correctly create the designation for 'to_tool_file_cmd' in the 'libtool' file that is created by running ./configure. The solution was to hack the libtool file produced by configure and set:
to_tool_file_cmd=func_convert_file_noop
I just used sed to add it to the top of the libtool file after #! /bin/sh. That is the default value according to:
http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/manual/html_node/libtool-script-contents...
— Variable: to_tool_file_cmd
If the toolchain is not native to the buildplatform (e.g. if you are using some Unix to drive the scripting together with a Windows toolchain running in Wine) this variable describes how to convert file names from the format used by the build platform to the format used by the toolchain. Normally set to ‘func_convert_file_noop’.
I do not understand why the GIT libtool version does not correctly do this when run against the stable 2.4.2 version of libtool. This is a bug that will need to be fixed. But:
==> Finished making: tde-tdeutils 3513_tqt-1 (Wed Mar 21 16:25:37 UTC 2012)
Perhaps file that information and watch whether the problem occurs with other packages. I like the old math adage about two points defining a line and a third point confirming the line. The analogy is additional failures and the same solution means valuable information that should be added to the wiki.
Unless, of course, the automake gurus know of simpler solutions. Which still should be posted to the wiki. :)
Darrell