Obviously building cairo 1.8.6 works fine here.  What OS are you trying to build on?

That't a libtool2 issue I believe.  Running ./autogen.sh should fix it.

I'm sorry, it doesn't :(


$ jhbuild buildone --autogen cairo 
I: bootstrap moduleset has been updated since the last time you used it, perhaps you should run jhbuild bootstrap.
I: some bootstrap modules have been updated, perhaps you should update them: guile, gmp, libtool.
*** Checking out cairo *** [1/1]
*** Configuring cairo *** [1/1]
./autogen.sh --prefix /opt/gnome2 --libdir '/opt/gnome2/lib64'  --disable-static --disable-scrollkeeper --disable-gtk-doc --enable-gtk-doc=no 
using autoconf for autoconf
checking for automake >= 1.9.6...
  testing automake... found 1.10.1
checking for libtool >= 1.4...
  testing glibtoolize... not found.
  testing libtoolize... found 1.5.26
./autogen.sh: running `libtoolize --copy --force --automake'
./autogen.sh: running `aclocal -I build'
/opt/gnome2/share/aclocal/audiofile.m4:12: warning: underquoted definition of AM_PATH_AUDIOFILE
/opt/gnome2/share/aclocal/audiofile.m4:12:   run info '(automake)Extending aclocal'
/opt/gnome2/share/aclocal/audiofile.m4:12:   or see http://sources.redhat.com/automake/automake.html#Extending-aclocal
./autogen.sh: running `autoheader'
./autogen.sh: running `automake --add-missing --gnu -Wall'
test/Makefile.am:1180: XFAIL_TESTS:$(EXEEXT: non-POSIX variable name
test/Makefile.am:1221: TESTS:$(EXEEXT: non-POSIX variable name
test/Makefile.am:1246: TESTS:$(EXEEXT: non-POSIX variable name
test/Makefile.am:1263: `%'-style pattern rules are a GNU make extension
test/Makefile.am:1271: TESTS:$(EXEEXT: non-POSIX variable name
build/Makefile.am.changelog:57: `%'-style pattern rules are a GNU make extension
Makefile.am:79:   `build/Makefile.am.changelog' included from here
./autogen.sh: running `autoconf'
./autogen.sh: running `./configure --cache-file=config.cache --disable-static --enable-test-surfaces --prefix /opt/gnome2 --libdir /opt/gnome2/lib64 --disable-static --disable-scrollkeeper --disable-gtk-doc --enable-gtk-doc=no'
configure: WARNING: unrecognized options: --disable-scrollkeeper
configure: creating cache config.cache
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking build system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking host system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking for style of include used by make... GNU
checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of executables... 
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed
checking dependency style of gcc... gcc3
checking for a sed that does not truncate output... /bin/sed
checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /bin/grep
checking for egrep... /bin/grep -E
checking for fgrep... /bin/grep -F
checking for ld used by gcc... /usr/bin/ld
checking if the linker (/usr/bin/ld) is GNU ld... yes
checking for BSD- or MS-compatible name lister (nm)... /usr/bin/nm -B
checking the name lister (/usr/bin/nm -B) interface... BSD nm
checking whether ln -s works... yes
checking the maximum length of command line arguments... 1572864
checking whether the shell understands some XSI constructs... yes
checking whether the shell understands "+="... yes
checking for /usr/bin/ld option to reload object files... -r
checking how to recognize dependent libraries... pass_all
checking for ar... ar
checking for strip... strip
checking for ranlib... ranlib
checking command to parse /usr/bin/nm -B output from gcc object... ok
checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E
checking for ANSI C header files... yes
checking for sys/types.h... yes
checking for sys/stat.h... yes
checking for stdlib.h... yes
checking for string.h... yes
checking for memory.h... yes
checking for strings.h... yes
checking for inttypes.h... yes
checking for stdint.h... yes
checking for unistd.h... yes
checking for dlfcn.h... yes
checking for objdir... .libs
checking if gcc supports -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions... no
checking for gcc option to produce PIC... -fPIC -DPIC
checking if gcc PIC flag -fPIC -DPIC works... yes
checking if gcc static flag -static works... yes
checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o... yes
checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o... (cached) yes
checking whether the gcc linker (/usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) supports shared libraries... yes
checking whether -lc should be explicitly linked in... no
checking dynamic linker characteristics... GNU/Linux ld.so
checking how to hardcode library paths into programs... immediate
checking whether stripping libraries is possible... yes
checking if libtool supports shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build static libraries... no
checking for bash... /bin/bash
checking if dolt supports this host... yes, replacing libtool
checking for pkg-config... /opt/gnome2/bin/pkg-config
checking pkg-config is at least version 0.9.0... yes
checking whether to build gtk-doc documentation... no
checking for gtkdoc-check... /opt/gnome2/bin/gtkdoc-check
checking for find... /usr/bin/find
checking for xargs... /usr/bin/xargs
checking for gcc... (cached) gcc
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... (cached) yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... (cached) yes
checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... (cached) none needed
checking dependency style of gcc... (cached) gcc3
checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E
checking for g++... g++
checking whether we are using the GNU C++ compiler... yes
checking whether g++ accepts -g... yes
checking dependency style of g++... gcc3
checking whether we are using the GNU C++ compiler... (cached) yes
checking whether g++ accepts -g... (cached) yes
checking dependency style of g++... (cached) gcc3
checking how to run the C++ preprocessor... g++ -E
checking for ld used by g++... /usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64
checking if the linker (/usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) is GNU ld... yes
checking whether the g++ linker (/usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) supports shared libraries... yes
checking for g++ option to produce PIC... -fPIC -DPIC
checking if g++ PIC flag -fPIC -DPIC works... yes
checking if g++ static flag -static works... yes
checking if g++ supports -c -o file.o... yes
checking if g++ supports -c -o file.o... (cached) yes
checking whether the g++ linker (/usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) supports shared libraries... yes
checking dynamic linker characteristics... GNU/Linux ld.so
checking how to hardcode library paths into programs... immediate
checking whether gcc and cc understand -c and -o together... yes
checking for inline... inline
checking for pkg-config... (cached) /opt/gnome2/bin/pkg-config
checking pkg-config is at least version 0.9.0... yes
checking whether byte ordering is bigendian... no
checking whether float word ordering is bigendian... no
checking for native atomic primitives... Intel
checking whether atomic ops require a memory barrier... no
checking for native Win32... no
checking for Sun Solaris (non-POSIX ctime_r)... no
checking for cos in -lm... yes
checking for sched_yield in -lrt... yes
checking for stdint.h... (cached) yes
checking for inttypes.h... (cached) yes
checking sys/int_types.h usability... no
checking sys/int_types.h presence... no
checking for sys/int_types.h... no
checking for uint64_t... yes
checking for uint128_t... no
checking fcntl.h usability... yes
checking fcntl.h presence... yes
checking for fcntl.h... yes
checking for unistd.h... (cached) yes
checking signal.h usability... yes
checking signal.h presence... yes
checking for signal.h... yes
checking for sys/stat.h... (cached) yes
checking sys/socket.h usability... yes
checking sys/socket.h presence... yes
checking for sys/socket.h... yes
checking sys/poll.h usability... yes
checking sys/poll.h presence... yes
checking for sys/poll.h... yes
checking sys/un.h usability... yes
checking sys/un.h presence... yes
checking for sys/un.h... yes
checking sched.h usability... yes
checking sched.h presence... yes
checking for sched.h... yes
checking for sched_getaffinity... yes
checking fenv.h usability... yes
checking fenv.h presence... yes
checking for fenv.h... yes
checking for feenableexcept... yes
checking for fedisableexcept... yes
checking libgen.h usability... yes
checking libgen.h presence... yes
checking for libgen.h... yes
checking byteswap.h usability... yes
checking byteswap.h presence... yes
checking for byteswap.h... yes
checking for signal.h... (cached) yes
checking setjmp.h usability... yes
checking setjmp.h presence... yes
checking for setjmp.h... yes
checking for vasnprintf... no
checking for link... yes
checking for ctime_r... yes
checking for drand48... yes
checking for flockfile... yes
checking windows.h usability... no
checking windows.h presence... no
checking for windows.h... no
checking for supported warning flags... 
checking whether gcc supports -Wall... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wextra... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wsign-compare... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Werror-implicit-function-declaration... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wpointer-arith... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wwrite-strings... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wstrict-prototypes... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wmissing-prototypes... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wmissing-declarations... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wnested-externs... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wpacked... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wswitch-enum... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wmissing-format-attribute... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wstrict-aliasing=2... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Winit-self... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wunsafe-loop-optimizations... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wdeclaration-after-statement... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wold-style-definition... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wno-missing-field-initializers... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wno-unused-parameter... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wno-attributes... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wno-long-long... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Winline... yes
checking whether gcc supports -fno-strict-aliasing... yes
checking whether gcc supports -fno-common... yes
checking whether gcc supports -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2... yes
checking which warning flags were supported...  -Wall -Wextra -Wsign-compare -Werror-implicit-function-declaration -Wpointer-arith -Wwrite-strings -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations -Wnested-externs -Wpacked -Wswitch-enum -Wmissing-format-attribute -Wstrict-aliasing=2 -Winit-self -Wunsafe-loop-optimizations -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wold-style-definition -Wno-missing-field-initializers -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-attributes -Wno-long-long -Winline -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2
checking how to enable unused result warnings... __attribute__((__warn_unused_result__))
checking how to allow undefined symbols in shared libraries used by test suite... checking whether gcc supports -Wl,--allow-shlib-undefined... yes
-Wl,--allow-shlib-undefined
checking for VALGRIND... yes
checking valgrind.h usability... yes
checking valgrind.h presence... yes
checking for valgrind.h... yes
checking lockdep.h usability... no
checking lockdep.h presence... no
checking for lockdep.h... no
checking memfault.h usability... no
checking memfault.h presence... no
checking for memfault.h... no
configure: updating cache config.cache
checking for compress in -lz... yes
checking zlib.h usability... yes
checking zlib.h presence... yes
checking for zlib.h... yes
checking for X... libraries , headers 
checking for cairo's Xlib surface backend feature... 
checking for xlib... yes
checking whether cairo's Xlib surface backend feature could be enabled... yes
checking for cairo's Xlib Xrender surface backend feature... 
checking for xlib_xrender... yes
checking whether cairo's Xlib Xrender surface backend feature could be enabled... yes
checking for cairo's Quartz surface backend feature... 
checking ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h usability... no
checking ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h presence... no
checking for ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h... no
checking CoreGraphics/CoreGraphics.h usability... no
checking CoreGraphics/CoreGraphics.h presence... no
checking for CoreGraphics/CoreGraphics.h... no
checking whether cairo's Quartz surface backend feature could be enabled... no (requires CoreGraphics framework)
checking for cairo's Quartz font backend feature... 
checking whether cairo's Quartz font backend feature could be enabled... no (requires CoreGraphics framework)
checking for cairo's Microsoft Windows surface backend feature... 
checking whether cairo's Microsoft Windows surface backend feature could be enabled... no (requires a Win32 platform)
checking for cairo's Microsoft Windows font backend feature... 
checking whether cairo's Microsoft Windows font backend feature could be enabled... no (requires a Win32 platform)
checking for cairo's PNG functions feature... 
checking for png... yes
checking whether cairo's PNG functions feature could be enabled... yes
checking for cairo's FreeType font backend feature... 
checking for FONTCONFIG... yes
checking for FcFini... yes
checking for FREETYPE... yes
checking whether cairo's FreeType font backend feature could be enabled... yes
checking for FT_Bitmap_Size.y_ppem... yes
checking for FT_GlyphSlot_Embolden... yes
checking for FT_Load_Sfnt_Table... yes
checking for FT_Library_SetLcdFilter... yes
checking pthread.h usability... yes
checking pthread.h presence... yes
checking for pthread.h... yes
checking for cairo's PostScript surface backend feature... 
checking whether cairo's PostScript surface backend feature could be enabled... yes
checking for gs... gs
checking for LIBSPECTRE... yes
checking for cairo's PDF surface backend feature... 
checking whether cairo's PDF surface backend feature could be enabled... yes
checking for POPPLER... yes
checking for poppler_page_render... yes
checking for cairo's SVG surface backend feature... 
checking whether cairo's SVG surface backend feature could be enabled... yes
checking for LIBRSVG... yes
checking for rsvg_pixbuf_from_file... yes
checking for cairo's test surfaces feature... 
checking whether cairo's test surfaces feature could be enabled... yes
checking for cairo's image surface backend feature... 
checking for pixman... yes
checking whether cairo's image surface backend feature could be enabled... yes
checking for cairo's user font backend feature... 
checking whether cairo's user font backend feature could be enabled... yes
checking for gtk... yes
configure: updating cache config.cache
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating src/cairo.pc
config.status: creating cairo-uninstalled.pc
config.status: creating src/cairo-xlib.pc
config.status: creating cairo-xlib-uninstalled.pc
config.status: creating src/cairo-xlib-xrender.pc
config.status: creating cairo-xlib-xrender-uninstalled.pc
config.status: creating src/cairo-png.pc
config.status: creating cairo-png-uninstalled.pc
config.status: creating src/cairo-ft.pc
config.status: creating cairo-ft-uninstalled.pc
config.status: creating src/cairo-ps.pc
config.status: creating cairo-ps-uninstalled.pc
config.status: creating src/cairo-pdf.pc
config.status: creating cairo-pdf-uninstalled.pc
config.status: creating src/cairo-svg.pc
config.status: creating cairo-svg-uninstalled.pc
config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating boilerplate/Makefile
config.status: creating src/Makefile
config.status: creating test/Makefile
config.status: creating test/pdiff/Makefile
config.status: creating perf/Makefile
config.status: creating util/Makefile
config.status: creating doc/Makefile
config.status: creating doc/public/Makefile
config.status: creating config.h
config.status: config.h is unchanged
config.status: executing depfiles commands
config.status: executing libtool commands
config.status: executing ./build/Makefile.win32.features commands
config.status: creating ./build/Makefile.win32.features
config.status: ./build/Makefile.win32.features is unchanged
config.status: executing ./src/Makefile.am.features commands
config.status: creating ./src/Makefile.am.features
config.status: executing ./src/Makefile.win32.features commands
config.status: creating ./src/Makefile.win32.features
config.status: ./src/Makefile.win32.features is unchanged
config.status: executing ./boilerplate/Makefile.am.features commands
config.status: creating ./boilerplate/Makefile.am.features
config.status: executing ./boilerplate/Makefile.win32.features commands
config.status: creating ./boilerplate/Makefile.win32.features
config.status: ./boilerplate/Makefile.win32.features is unchanged
config.status: executing src/cairo-features.h commands
config.status: creating src/cairo-features.h
config.status: src/cairo-features.h is unchanged
config.status: executing ./src/cairo-supported-features.h commands
config.status: creating ./src/cairo-supported-features.h
config.status: ./src/cairo-supported-features.h is unchanged
config.status: executing ./build/Makefile.win32.features-h commands
config.status: creating ./build/Makefile.win32.features-h
config.status: ./build/Makefile.win32.features-h is unchanged
configure: WARNING: unrecognized options: --disable-scrollkeeper

cairo (version 1.8.6 [release]) will be compiled with:

The following surface backends:
  Image:         yes (always builtin)
  Xlib:          yes
  Xlib Xrender:  yes
  Quartz:        no (requires CoreGraphics framework)
  Quartz-image:  no (disabled, use --enable-quartz-image to enable)
  XCB:           no (disabled, use --enable-xcb to enable)
  Win32:         no (requires a Win32 platform)
  OS2:           no (disabled, use --enable-os2 to enable)
  PostScript:    yes
  PDF:           yes
  SVG:           yes
  glitz:         no (disabled, use --enable-glitz to enable)
  BeOS:          no (disabled, use --enable-beos to enable)
  DirectFB:      no (disabled, use --enable-directfb to enable)

The following font backends:
  User:          yes (always builtin)
  FreeType:      yes
  Win32:         no (requires a Win32 platform)
  Quartz:        no (requires CoreGraphics framework)

The following functions:
  PNG functions: yes

And the following internal features:
  gcov support:  no
  test surfaces: yes
  ps testing:    yes
  pdf testing:   yes
  svg testing:   yes


Now type `make' to compile .
*** Building cairo *** [1/1]
make  
make  all-recursive
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6'
Making all in src
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src'
 cd .. && /bin/sh /home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/build/missing --run automake-1.10 --gnu  src/Makefile
 cd .. && /bin/sh ./config.status src/Makefile depfiles
config.status: creating src/Makefile
config.status: executing depfiles commands
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src'
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src'
make  all-am
make[3]: Entering directory `/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src'
cd .. && make  config.h
make[4]: Entering directory `/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6'
make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6'
../doltlibtool --tag=CC   --mode=link gcc  -ggdb -g3 -O0 -pipe -Werror-implicit-function-declaration  -version-info 10802:6:10800 -no-undefined  -L/opt/gnome2/lib64  -o libcairo.la -rpath /opt/gnome2/lib64                                       cairo-analysis-surface.lo cairo-arc.lo cairo-array.lo cairo-atomic.lo cairo-base85-stream.lo cairo-bentley-ottmann.lo cairo.lo cairo-cache.lo cairo-clip.lo cairo-color.lo cairo-debug.lo cairo-fixed.lo cairo-font-face.lo cairo-font-face-twin.lo cairo-font-face-twin-data.lo cairo-font-options.lo cairo-freelist.lo cairo-gstate.lo cairo-hash.lo cairo-hull.lo cairo-image-surface.lo cairo-lzw.lo cairo-matrix.lo cairo-meta-surface.lo cairo-misc.lo cairo-mutex.lo cairo-output-stream.lo cairo-paginated-surface.lo cairo-path-bounds.lo cairo-path.lo cairo-path-fill.lo cairo-path-fixed.lo cairo-path-stroke.lo cairo-pattern.lo cairo-pen.lo cairo-polygon.lo cairo-rectangle.lo cairo-region.lo cairo-scaled-font.lo cairo-skiplist.lo cairo-slope.lo cairo-spline.lo cairo-stroke-style.lo cairo-surface.lo cairo-surface-fallback.lo cairo-system.lo cairo-traps.lo cairo-unicode.lo cairo-user-font.lo cairo-version.lo cairo-wideint.lo cairo-cff-subset.lo cairo-scaled-font-subsets.lo cairo-truetype-subset.lo cairo-type1-fallback.lo cairo-type1-subset.lo cairo-type3-glyph-surface.lo cairo-pdf-operators.lo cairo-xlib-display.lo cairo-xlib-screen.lo cairo-xlib-surface.lo cairo-xlib-visual.lo          cairo-png.lo   cairo-ft-font.lo cairo-ps-surface.lo cairo-pdf-surface.lo cairo-deflate-stream.lo cairo-svg-surface.lo test-fallback-surface.lo test-meta-surface.lo test-paginated-surface.lo -L/opt/gnome2/lib64 -lpixman-1       -L/usr/lib -lfreetype   -L/opt/gnome2/lib64 -lfontconfig   -L/usr/lib -lpng12   -L/usr/lib -lXrender -lX11   -L/usr/lib -lX11    -lm     -lz -lz      -lm -lm
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 847: X--tag=CC: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 880: libtool: ignoring unknown tag : command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 847: X--mode=link: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 1014: *** Warning: inferring the mode of operation is deprecated.: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 1015: *** Future versions of Libtool will require --mode=MODE be specified.: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2259: X-ggdb: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2259: X-g3: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2259: X-O0: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2259: X-pipe: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2259: X-Werror-implicit-function-declaration: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 1973: X-L/opt/gnome2/lib64: No such file or directory
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-analysis-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-arc.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-array.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-atomic.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-base85-stream.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-bentley-ottmann.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-cache.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-clip.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-color.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-debug.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-fixed.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-font-face.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-font-face-twin.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-font-face-twin-data.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-font-options.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-freelist.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-gstate.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-hash.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-hull.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-image-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-lzw.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-matrix.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-meta-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-misc.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-mutex.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-output-stream.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-paginated-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-path-bounds.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-path.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-path-fill.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-path-fixed.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-path-stroke.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-pattern.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-pen.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-polygon.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-rectangle.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-region.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-scaled-font.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-skiplist.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-slope.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-spline.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-stroke-style.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-surface-fallback.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-system.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-traps.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-unicode.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-user-font.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-version.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-wideint.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-cff-subset.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-scaled-font-subsets.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-truetype-subset.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-type1-fallback.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-type1-subset.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-type3-glyph-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-pdf-operators.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-xlib-display.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-xlib-screen.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-xlib-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-xlib-visual.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-png.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-ft-font.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-ps-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-pdf-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-deflate-stream.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xcairo-svg-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xtest-fallback-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xtest-meta-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2296: Xtest-paginated-surface.lo: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 1973: X-L/opt/gnome2/lib64: No such file or directory
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 1973: X-L/usr/lib: No such file or directory
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 1973: X-L/opt/gnome2/lib64: No such file or directory
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 1973: X-L/usr/lib: No such file or directory
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 1973: X-L/usr/lib: No such file or directory
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 1973: X-L/usr/lib: No such file or directory
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2428: Xlibcairo.la: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2433: X/opt/gnome2/lib64: No such file or directory
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2440: Xlibcairo.la: command not found
/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src/../libtool: line 2448: mkdir /.libs: No such file or directory
mkdir: cannot create directory `/.libs': Permission denied
make[3]: *** [libcairo.la] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src'
make[2]: *** [all] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6/src'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/muelli/vcs/gnome/cairo-1.8.6'
make: *** [all] Error 2
*** Error during phase build of cairo: ########## Error running make   *** [1/1]

  [1] Rerun phase build
  [2] Ignore error and continue to install
  [3] Give up on module
  [4] Start shell
  [5] Reload configuration
  [6] Go to phase force_checkout
  [7] Go to phase configure
  [8] Go to phase clean
  [9] Go to phase distclean
choice: 

I also can reproduce this bug here.

I'm running Slackware 13.0 and trying to compile GNOME 2.27.92 with jhbuild.

My libtool package is: libtool-1.5.26-i486-1

Replacing this autogen.sh line:

LIBTOOLIZE_FLAGS="--copy --force --automake"

by this:

LIBTOOLIZE_FLAGS="--copy --automake"

made the trick.

I guess that the problem is with libtool 1.5.26

Hello,
I have the same problem.
This bug is not resolved with the 
"Replacing this autogen.sh line:

LIBTOOLIZE_FLAGS="--copy --force --automake"

by this:

LIBTOOLIZE_FLAGS="--copy --automake"

made the trick.

I guess that the problem is with libtool 1.5.26
"
Have you got another help for me. It's important because i have to compile gnome 2.28 with jhbuild.
Thanx

This was a bug in the libtool used whilst generating the tarball. Fortunately, 1.8.8 and later were free of this issue.