libfreetype6 ftbfs due to autoconf version

[themusicgod1]

According to the README, the process to build libfreetype6 seems to start with

./debian/rules patch

which fails due to the correct version of autoconf not being detected, even though it is installed:

themusicgod1@Hedy:~/libfreetype/freetype-2.5.2$ ./debian/rules patch
# Unpack upstream tarballs
Unpacking freetype-2.5.2.tar.bz2 ...
Unpacking freetype-doc-2.5.2.tar.bz2 ...
Unpacking ft2demos-2.5.2.tar.bz2 ...
[...]
Applying patch savannah-bug-41590.patch
patching file src/type1/t1load.c

Now at patch savannah-bug-41590.patch
cd freetype-2.5.2 && ./autogen.sh
ERROR: Your version of the `autoconf' tool is too old.
       Minimum version 2.62 is required (yours is version 2.13).
       Please upgrade or use the AUTOCONF variable to point to a more recent one.

debian/rules:72: recipe for target 'patch-stamp' failed
make: *** [patch-stamp] Error 1

themusicgod1@Hedy:~/libfreetype/freetype-2.5.2$ which autoconf2.64
/usr/bin/autoconf2.64
themusicgod1@Hedy:~/libfreetype/freetype-2.5.2$ echo $AUTOCONF
/usr/bin/autoconf2.64

(same happens if $AUTOCONF is set differently, or not set)

Ubuntu: 15.10 wily werewolf

libfreetype6:
  Installed: 2.5.2-4ubuntu2
  Candidate: 2.5.2-4ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 2.5.2-4ubuntu2 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ wily/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
autoconf:
  Installed: 2.69-8
  Candidate: 2.69-8

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.10
Package: libfreetype6 2.5.2-4ubuntu2
Uname: Linux 4.1.0-040100rc1-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.19-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Sun Oct 4 07:00:25 2015
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-07-09 (451 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-GNOME 14.10 "Utopic Unicorn" - Alpha amd64 (20140708)
SourcePackage: freetype
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Current versions of the autoconf2.13 package install the program as /usr/bin/autoconf2.13. And autoconf2.13 is ancient. You should uninstall this package when building freetype.

[themusicgod1 (themusicgod1)]

...i don't have autoconf2.13 installed, i have autoconf2.64 installed.

[themusicgod1 (themusicgod1)]

Hrm guess I do have autoconf2.13 installed also. I can remove that and try again.

[themusicgod1 (themusicgod1)]

nm that works.