compile dies with Memory Error, runs out of file descriptors

[renehl@post1.tele.dk (Rene Hojbjerg Larsen)]

Hi,

I'm trying to compile wmaker (from Marcelo's debianized sources) on an
up to date potato system.  It dies in the configure phase with:

creating WPrefs.app/Makefile
creating WPrefs.app/tiff/Makefile
creating WPrefs.app/xpm/Makefile
creating WPrefs.app/po/Makefile
creating src/config.h
Memory fault 
make: *** [config-wmaker-debian-stamp] Error 1

Running an strace shows that the system is running out of file
descriptors:

...
21207 open("/bin/rm", O_RDONLY)         = 592
21207 fstat(592, {st_mode=0, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
21207 mmap(0, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x40015000
21207 read(592, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\2"..., 4096) = 4096
21207 close(592)                        = 0
21207 munmap(0x40015000, 4096)          = 0
21207 pipe([592, 593])                  = 0
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
21207 msgsnd(1281, {1, "\10\0\0\0\252T\0\0\27\0\0\0\377\377"...}, 16, 0) = 0
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\6\0\0\0\252T\0\0\1\0\0\0\3\3\0\0"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 100
21207 msgsnd(1281, {1, "\6\0\0\0\252T\0\0\1\0\0\0\3\3\0\0"...}, 100, 0) = 0
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\7\0\0\0@;\1@\5\0\0\0\3\3\0\0\0\0"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 100
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\6\0\0\0\252T\0\0\2\0\0\0\3\3\0\0"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 100
21207 msgsnd(1281, {1, "\6\0\0\0\252T\0\0\2\0\0\0\3\3\0\0"...}, 100, 0) = 0
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\7\0\0\0@;\1@\5\0\0\0\3\3\0\0\0\0"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 100
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\7\0\0\0@_\7\10\220\347\377\277\3"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 100
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\7\0\0\0@_\7\10\220\347\377\277\3"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 100
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\7\0\0\0@_\7\10\220\347\377\277\3"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 100
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\7\0\0\0@_\7\10\220\347\377\277\3"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 100
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\7\0\0\0@_\7\10\220\347\377\277\3"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 100
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\7\0\0\0@_\7\10\220\347\377\277\3"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 100
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\7\0\0\0@_\7\10\220\347\377\277\3"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 100
21207 msgrcv(1280, {1, "\10\0\0\0\270T\0\0\27\0\0\0\24\0"...}, 2048, 0, 0) = 25
21207 open("/bin/cat", O_RDONLY)        = 594
21207 fstat(594, {st_mode=0, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
21207 mmap(0, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x40015000
21207 read(594, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\2"..., 4096) = 4096
21207 close(594)                        = 0
21207 munmap(0x40015000, 4096)          = 0
21207 pipe([594, 595])                  = 0
...   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It just keeps on gobbling up file descriptors in this way until the system
runs out.

Any clues?

TIA
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