Change autoconf version to 2.62 and automake version to 1.11.2 On my computer, the version of autoconf is 2.59 and automake is 1.9 I build with autogen.sh & configure & make and failed. I find In Makefile.am: include/event2/event-config.h: config.h make-event-config.sed $(AM_V_GEN)test -d include/event2 || $(MKDIR_P) include/event2 $(AM_V_at)$(SED) -f $(srcdir)/make-event-config.sed < config.h > $@T $(AM_V_at)mv -f $@T $@ There are three undefined variables: MKDIR_P, AM_V_GEN and AM_V_at. Then I tried: - autoconf-2.60 / automake-1.10 - autoconf-2.61 / automake-1.11 - autoconf-2.62 / automake-1.11.2 And only autoconf-2.62 & automake-1.11.2 is ok. Therefore, I recommend changing the autoconf version from 2.59 to 2.62 and automake version from 1.9 to 1.11.2. Plus autoconf 2.59 is too old - 2003.12.16 [1], so as automake 1.9 - 2004.08.11 [2], while $(AM_V_GEN)/$(AM_V_at) had been introduced in 371a1237 back in 2012. [1]: http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/ [1]: http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/automake/ Fixes: 371a1237 ("Make quiet build even quieter")