trouble building libtool

[Mark Smithfield]

I am using OSX 10.3.9.

While attempting to build libtool, the following error
occured..

----------------

--->  Building libtool with target all
Error: Target org.macports.build returned: shell
command " cd
"/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_devel_libtool/work/libtool-1.5.26"
&& make all " returned error 2
Command output: rm -f acinclude.m4 acinclude.m4T
cat ./libtool.m4 > acinclude.m4T
mv acinclude.m4T acinclude.m4
cd . && /bin/sh
/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_devel_libtool/work/libtool-1.5.26/missing
--run aclocal-1.10 
/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_devel_libtool/work/libtool-1.5.26/missing:
line 54: aclocal-1.10: command not found
WARNING: `aclocal-1.10' is missing on your system. 
You should only need it if
         you modified `acinclude.m4' or
`configure.ac'.  You might want
         to install the `Automake' and `Perl'
packages.  Grab them from
         any GNU archive site.
 cd . && /bin/sh
/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_devel_libtool/work/libtool-1.5.26/missing
--run automake-1.10 --gnu 
/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_devel_libtool/work/libtool-1.5.26/missing:
line 54: automake-1.10: command not found
WARNING: `automake-1.10' is missing on your system. 
You should only need it if
         you modified `Makefile.am', `acinclude.m4' or
`configure.ac'.
         You might want to install the `Automake' and
`Perl' packages.
         Grab them from any GNU archive site.
cd . && /bin/sh
/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_devel_libtool/work/libtool-1.5.26/missing
--run autoconf
aclocal.m4:20: warning: this file was generated for
autoconf 2.61.
You have another version of autoconf.  It may work,
but is not guaranteed to.
If you have problems, you may need to regenerate the
build system entirely.
To do so, use the procedure documented by the package,
typically `autoreconf'.
configure.ac:55: error: Autoconf version 2.60 or
higher is required
aclocal.m4:475: AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is expanded from...
configure.ac:55: the top level
autom4te: /usr/bin/gm4 failed with exit status: 1
make: *** [configure] Error 1

Error: The following dependencies failed to build:
rsync popt autoconf libtool m4
Error: Status 1 encountered during processing.

----------------

This seems to be telling me that I need to update the
entire automake toolchain. I am not at all comfortable
with automake, and there is an awful lot with which to
get comfortable. 

I have placed the /opt/local/ early in my path, so I
can use port to upgrade, but I don't know where to
start. Is there a top to the automake pyramid, or just
a bunch of low hills?

And...

Shouldn't this *be* a dependency of the build process?
Shouldn't libtool properly trigger this for me? 

This seems like a very messy situation (having to
upgrade your build tools while in the midst of
building dependents) and I would just like to get an
idea of how it occurs to people that are more
experienced with the process.