+dnl see if GUILE is installed
+AC_PATH_PROG(GUILE,guile)
+
+dnl
+dnl We require the boost headers, thread lib and date_time lib.
+dnl AX_BOOST_BASE finds the headers and the lib dir (-L<foo>)
+dnl
+dnl calls AC_SUBST(BOOST_CPPFLAGS), AC_SUBST(BOOST_LDFLAGS) and defines HAVE_BOOST
+AX_BOOST_BASE([1.35])
+
+dnl calls AC_SUBST(BOOST_THREAD_LIB), AC_SUBST(BOOST_CXXFLAGS) and defines HAVE_BOOST_THREAD
+AX_BOOST_THREAD
+CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS $BOOST_CXXFLAGS" dnl often picks up a -pthread or something similar
+CFLAGS="$CFLAGS $BOOST_CXXFLAGS" dnl often picks up a -pthread or something similar
+
+dnl
+dnl all the rest of these call AC_SUBST(BOOST_<foo>_LIB) and define HAVE_BOOST_<foo>
+dnl
+AX_BOOST_DATE_TIME
+dnl AX_BOOST_FILESYSTEM
+dnl AX_BOOST_IOSTREAMS
+AX_BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS
+dnl AX_BOOST_REGEX
+dnl AX_BOOST_SERIALIZATION
+dnl AX_BOOST_SIGNALS
+dnl AX_BOOST_SYSTEM
+dnl AX_BOOST_TEST_EXEC_MONITOR
+dnl AX_BOOST_UNIT_TEST_FRAMEWORK
+dnl AX_BOOST_WSERIALIZATION
+
+BUILD_DATE=`date -R -u`
+AC_SUBST(BUILD_DATE)
+
+dnl SYSCONFDIR substitution
+if test "${sysconfdir}" == "\${prefix}/etc" ; then
+ if test "${prefix}" == "NONE" ; then
+ SYSCONFDIR=["$ac_default_prefix/etc"]
+ else
+ SYSCONFDIR=["${prefix}/etc"]
+ fi
+else
+ SYSCONFDIR=[${sysconfdir}]
+fi
+AC_SUBST(SYSCONFDIR)
+
+dnl System configuration files
+GR_PREFSDIR=[$SYSCONFDIR/${PACKAGE}/conf.d]
+AC_SUBST(GR_PREFSDIR)