./configure: line 2039: syntax error near unexpected token `foreign'

[Mathieu Malaterre]

Hi,

  I am trying to compile openslide directly from github. According to
README one need run ./configure. Since this file is not shipped, I ran
autoconf first. But now I am getting the following error:

./configure: line 2039: syntax error near unexpected token `foreign'
./configure: line 2039: `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(foreign subdir-objects
1.11.1 dist-xz)'


  Has anyone tried compiling openslide from github ?

Thanks much
-- 
Mathieu