cannot build bison-3.3.90 on Solaris 11.3

[Bruno Haible]

Hi,

Attempting to build bison-3.3.90 on Solaris 11.3 fails already in the configure
phase:

$ CC="gcc -m64 -O2" CXX="g++ -m64 -O2" ../configure CPPFLAGS=-Wall
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/ginstall -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /usr/bin/gmkdir -p
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking whether make supports nested variables... yes
checking whether make supports nested variables... (cached) yes
checking whether make supports the include directive... yes (GNU style)
checking for gcc... gcc -m64 -O2
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking for suffix of executables... 
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether gcc -m64 -O2 accepts -g... yes
checking for gcc -m64 -O2 option to enable C11 features... -std=gnu11
checking dependency style of gcc -m64 -O2 -std=gnu11... gcc3
checking whether we are using the GNU C++ compiler... yes
checking whether g++ -m64 -O2 accepts -g... yes
checking for g++ -m64 -O2 option to enable C++11 features... -std=gnu++11
checking dependency style of g++ -m64 -O2 -std=gnu++11... gcc3
checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -m64 -O2 -std=gnu11 -E
checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /usr/bin/ggrep
checking for egrep... /usr/bin/ggrep -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 minix/config.h usability... no
checking minix/config.h presence... no
checking for minix/config.h... no
checking whether it is safe to define __EXTENSIONS__... yes
checking whether _XOPEN_SOURCE should be defined... no
checking for Minix Amsterdam compiler... no
checking for ar... ar
checking for ranlib... ranlib
checking build system type... x86_64-pc-solaris2.11
checking host system type... x86_64-pc-solaris2.11
checking for special C compiler options needed for large files... no
checking for _FILE_OFFSET_BITS value needed for large files... no
checking whether pragma GCC diagnostic push works... yes
checking whether C++ compiler handles -Werror -Wunknown-warning-option... no
checking whether C++ compiler handles -fno-exceptions... yes
checking whether C++ compiler accepts -std=c++98... no
checking whether C++ compiler accepts -std=c++98 -stdlib=libc++... no
checking whether C++ compiler accepts -std=c++03... no
checking whether C++ compiler accepts -std=c++03 -stdlib=libc++... no
checking whether C++ compiler accepts -std=c++11... yes
checking whether C++ compiler accepts -std=c++14... no
checking whether C++ compiler accepts -std=c++14 -stdlib=libc++... no
checking whether C++ compiler accepts -std=c++17... no
checking whether C++ compiler accepts -std=c++17 -stdlib=libc++... no
checking whether C++ compiler accepts -std=c++2a... no
checking whether C++ compiler accepts -std=c++2a -stdlib=libc++... no
checking whether gcc -m64 -O2 -std=gnu11 supports POSIXLY_CORRECT=1... yes
checking whether g++ -m64 -O2 -std=gnu++11 builds executables that work... yes
checking whether g++ -m64 -O2 -std=gnu++11 supports POSIXLY_CORRECT=1... yes
checking for dmd... no
checking for Java compiler... no
checking for Java virtual machine... java
checking for flex... no
checking for lex... lex
checking whether lex is flex... no
checking lex output file root... lex.yy
checking lex library... -ll
checking whether yytext is a pointer... no
configure: WARNING: bypassing lex because flex is required
checking for bison... no
checking for byacc... no
checking for ranlib... (cached) ranlib
checking for GNU M4 that supports accurate traces... configure: error: no 
acceptable m4 could be found in $PATH.
GNU M4 1.4.6 or later is required; 1.4.16 or newer is recommended.
GNU M4 1.4.15 uses a buggy replacement strstr on some systems.
Glibc 2.9 - 2.12 and GNU M4 1.4.11 - 1.4.15 have another strstr bug.

The 'm4' program that is installed in /usr/bin/m4 (not GNU m4).

Per GNU standards [1], it should be possible to build the package without
needing a GNU m4. If GNU m4 is needed to preprocess a source file, that
preprocessed source file ought to be included in the tarball. If GNU m4
is needed for the execution of some test, the test ought to be skipped
when no GNU m4 is present.

Bruno

[1] https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Utilities-in-Makefiles.html