title: Autoconf Produces configure with Broken Functions (ac_fn_set_status, ac_fn_exit)
body: <p>I'm trying to set up autoconf for my project. I have everything working "properly" except that the ac_set_&lt;...> functions are not being found in ./configure. They work fine in configure.status if I run it directly. </p>
  
  <p>Specifically, I am having trouble with as_fn_set_status and as_fn_exit. </p>
  
  <p>If I manually edit the config file and move the two functions to the top of the configure script, everything works fine. </p>
  
  <p>To get to this point I:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Wrote configure.ac</li>
  <li>ran autoreconf -i</li>
  <li>ran ./configure</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>The resulting lines are something like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>./configure: line 1366: as_fn_set_status: command not found
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>There are 3-4 lines on which the error occurs. </p>
  
  <p>Any ideas on what might be producing this effect? Here is my configure.ac:</p>
  
  <pre><code>##########################################
  #  Autoconf Configuration File for RPDB  #
  ##########################################
  
  #   RPDB: An Object-Oriented Wrapper for Oracle's Berkeley Database (BDB/libdb),
  #   which is available at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/berkeley-db/index.html
  
  ###########################
  #  Init Autoconf &gt;= 2.61  #
  ###########################
  
  AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM
  
  AC_PREREQ(2.61)
  AC_INIT([rpdb], [0.1.0], [asher@ridiculouspower.com])
  
  AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([.])
  AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
  AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
  AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
  
  AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
  
  #################################
  #  Check for Library Functions  #
  #################################
  
  AC_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE
  AC_FUNC_MALLOC
  AC_CHECK_FUNCS([strdup])
  
  ################################
  #  Check for Working Compiler  #
  ################################
  
  AC_PROG_CC
  AC_PROG_RANLIB
  
  #########################
  #  Check for Libraries  #
  #########################
  
  AC_SEARCH_LIBS([db_create], [db], [have_libdb=yes])
  
  #######################
  #  "Root Sourcefile"  #
  #######################
  
  # "Root Sourcefile" is only used nominally to specify base path
  
  AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/RPDB_Base/RPDB.h])
  
  #######################
  #  Check for Headers  #
  #######################
  
  AC_HEADER_STDC
  AC_CHECK_HEADERS([stdlib.h string.h])
  
  # If we found libdb then check for db.h - we need to have both or we throw an error
  if test "x${have_libdb}" = xyes; then
    AC_CHECK_HEADERS([db.h], [], [have_libdb=no])
  fi
  if test "x${have_libdb}" = xno; then
    echo "------------------------------------------"
    echo " Oracle's Berkeley Database (libdb)       "
    echo " library and header file is required to   "
    echo " build RPDB. Stopping...                  "
    echo " Check 'config.log' for more information. "
    echo "------------------------------------------"
    (exit 1); exit 1;
  fi
  
  #####################################################
  #  Check For Type-Related Compiler Characteristics  #
  #####################################################
  
  AC_C_CONST
  AC_HEADER_STDBOOL
  AC_TYPE_INT32_T
  AC_TYPE_PID_T
  AC_TYPE_SIZE_T
  AC_TYPE_UINT32_T
  AC_TYPE_UINT64_T
  AC_TYPE_UINT8_T
  
  ###############################
  #  Generate Configure Script  #
  ###############################
  
  AC_OUTPUT
  </code></pre>