AC_PROG_LIBTOOL error

Someone is trying to build a project I maintain on Solaris 2.8 with 
current versions of the autotools.  When he runs autoconf, it says:

configure.in:17: /usr/local/bin/m4: ERROR: Reading inserted file: No
such file or directory

Line 17 has "AC_PROG_LIBTOOL" on it.

He's reinstalled all the autotools, and still no joy.  I asked if 
/usr/local/share/aclocal/libtool.m4 exists, and he says it does.  If 
that isn't the file that is missing, what is?

If someone's interested in trying this out for themselves, the source 
tarball for the project is at:

        http://tangentsoft.net/mysql++/releases/mysql++-1.7.11.tar.gz