added the most recent one from automake 1.5, it complained on the former

one being "too old"

missing

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 # Common stub for a few missing GNU programs while installing.
-# Copyright (C) 1996, 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-# Franc,ois Pinard <pinard@iro.umontreal.ca>, 1996.
+# Copyright 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+# Originally by Fran,cois Pinard <pinard@iro.umontreal.ca>, 1996.
 
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -18,11 +18,37 @@
 # Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
 # 02111-1307, USA.
 
+# As a special exception to the GNU General Public License, if you
+# distribute this file as part of a program that contains a
+# configuration script generated by Autoconf, you may include it under
+# the same distribution terms that you use for the rest of that program.
+
 if test $# -eq 0; then
   echo 1>&2 "Try \`$0 --help' for more information"
   exit 1
 fi
 
+run=:
+
+# In the cases where this matters, `missing' is being run in the
+# srcdir already.
+if test -f configure.ac; then
+  configure_ac=configure.ac
+else
+  configure_ac=configure.in
+fi
+
+case "$1" in
+--run)
+  # Try to run requested program, and just exit if it succeeds.
+  run=
+  shift
+  "$@" && exit 0
+  ;;
+esac
+
+# If it does not exist, or fails to run (possibly an outdated version),
+# try to emulate it.
 case "$1" in
 
   -h|--h|--he|--hel|--help)
@@ -35,6 +61,7 @@ error status if there is no known handling for PROGRAM.
 Options:
   -h, --help      display this help and exit
   -v, --version   output version information and exit
+  --run           try to run the given command, and emulate it if it fails
 
 Supported PROGRAM values:
   aclocal      touch file \`aclocal.m4'
@@ -43,13 +70,15 @@ Supported PROGRAM values:
   automake     touch all \`Makefile.in' files
   bison        create \`y.tab.[ch]', if possible, from existing .[ch]
   flex         create \`lex.yy.c', if possible, from existing .c
+  help2man     touch the output file
   lex          create \`lex.yy.c', if possible, from existing .c
   makeinfo     touch the output file
+  tar          try tar, gnutar, gtar, then tar without non-portable flags
   yacc         create \`y.tab.[ch]', if possible, from existing .[ch]"
     ;;
 
   -v|--v|--ve|--ver|--vers|--versi|--versio|--version)
-    echo "missing - GNU libit 0.0"
+    echo "missing 0.3 - GNU automake"
     ;;
 
   -*)
@@ -61,7 +90,7 @@ Supported PROGRAM values:
   aclocal)
     echo 1>&2 "\
 WARNING: \`$1' is missing on your system.  You should only need it if
-         you modified \`acinclude.m4' or \`configure.in'.  You might want
+         you modified \`acinclude.m4' or \`${configure_ac}'.  You might want
          to install the \`Automake' and \`Perl' packages.  Grab them from
          any GNU archive site."
     touch aclocal.m4
@@ -70,7 +99,7 @@ WARNING: \`$1' is missing on your system.  You should only need it if
   autoconf)
     echo 1>&2 "\
 WARNING: \`$1' is missing on your system.  You should only need it if
-         you modified \`configure.in'.  You might want to install the
+         you modified \`${configure_ac}'.  You might want to install the
          \`Autoconf' and \`GNU m4' packages.  Grab them from any GNU
          archive site."
     touch configure
@@ -79,29 +108,31 @@ WARNING: \`$1' is missing on your system.  You should only need it if
   autoheader)
     echo 1>&2 "\
 WARNING: \`$1' is missing on your system.  You should only need it if
-         you modified \`acconfig.h' or \`configure.in'.  You might want
+         you modified \`acconfig.h' or \`${configure_ac}'.  You might want
          to install the \`Autoconf' and \`GNU m4' packages.  Grab them
          from any GNU archive site."
-    files=`sed -n 's/^[ ]*A[CM]_CONFIG_HEADER([^):]*:\([^)]*\)).*/\1/p' configure.in`
-    if test -z "$files"; then
-      files=`sed -n 's/^[ ]*A[CM]_CONFIG_HEADER(\([^):]*\)).*/\1/p' configure.in`
-      test -z "$files" || files="$files.in"
-    else
-      files=`echo "$files" | sed -e 's/:/ /g'`
-    fi
-    test -z "$files" && files="config.h.in"
-    touch $files
+    files=`sed -n 's/^[ ]*A[CM]_CONFIG_HEADER(\([^)]*\)).*/\1/p' ${configure_ac}`
+    test -z "$files" && files="config.h"
+    touch_files=
+    for f in $files; do
+      case "$f" in
+      *:*) touch_files="$touch_files "`echo "$f" |
+				       sed -e 's/^[^:]*://' -e 's/:.*//'`;;
+      *) touch_files="$touch_files $f.in";;
+      esac
+    done
+    touch $touch_files
     ;;
 
   automake)
     echo 1>&2 "\
 WARNING: \`$1' is missing on your system.  You should only need it if
-         you modified \`Makefile.am', \`acinclude.m4' or \`configure.in'.
+         you modified \`Makefile.am', \`acinclude.m4' or \`${configure_ac}'.
          You might want to install the \`Automake' and \`Perl' packages.
          Grab them from any GNU archive site."
-    find . -type f -name Makefile.am -print \
-      | sed 's/^\(.*\).am$/touch \1.in/' \
-      | sh
+    find . -type f -name Makefile.am -print |
+	   sed 's/\.am$/.in/' |
+	   while read f; do touch "$f"; done
     ;;
 
   bison|yacc)
@@ -157,7 +188,32 @@ WARNING: \`$1' is missing on your system.  You should only need it if
     fi
     ;;
 
+  help2man)
+    echo 1>&2 "\
+WARNING: \`$1' is missing on your system.  You should only need it if
+	 you modified a dependency of a manual page.  You may need the
+	 \`Help2man' package in order for those modifications to take
+	 effect.  You can get \`Help2man' from any GNU archive site."
+
+    file=`echo "$*" | sed -n 's/.*-o \([^ ]*\).*/\1/p'`
+    if test -z "$file"; then
+	file=`echo "$*" | sed -n 's/.*--output=\([^ ]*\).*/\1/p'`
+    fi
+    if [ -f "$file" ]; then
+	touch $file
+    else
+	test -z "$file" || exec >$file
+	echo ".ab help2man is required to generate this page"
+	exit 1
+    fi
+    ;;
+
   makeinfo)
+    if test -z "$run" && (makeinfo --version) > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+       # We have makeinfo, but it failed.
+       exit 1
+    fi
+
     echo 1>&2 "\
 WARNING: \`$1' is missing on your system.  You should only need it if
          you modified a \`.texi' or \`.texinfo' file, or any other file
@@ -173,6 +229,45 @@ WARNING: \`$1' is missing on your system.  You should only need it if
     touch $file
     ;;
 
+  tar)
+    shift
+    if test -n "$run"; then
+      echo 1>&2 "ERROR: \`tar' requires --run"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+
+    # We have already tried tar in the generic part.
+    # Look for gnutar/gtar before invocation to avoid ugly error
+    # messages.
+    if (gnutar --version > /dev/null 2>&1); then
+       gnutar ${1+"$@"} && exit 0
+    fi
+    if (gtar --version > /dev/null 2>&1); then
+       gtar ${1+"$@"} && exit 0
+    fi
+    firstarg="$1"
+    if shift; then
+	case "$firstarg" in
+	*o*)
+	    firstarg=`echo "$firstarg" | sed s/o//`
+	    tar "$firstarg" ${1+"$@"} && exit 0
+	    ;;
+	esac
+	case "$firstarg" in
+	*h*)
+	    firstarg=`echo "$firstarg" | sed s/h//`
+	    tar "$firstarg" ${1+"$@"} && exit 0
+	    ;;
+	esac
+    fi
+
+    echo 1>&2 "\
+WARNING: I can't seem to be able to run \`tar' with the given arguments.
+         You may want to install GNU tar or Free paxutils, or check the
+         command line arguments."
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+
   *)
     echo 1>&2 "\
 WARNING: \`$1' is needed, and you do not seem to have it handy on your