automake 1.14 failure – "requires AM_PROG_AR in configure.ac"

[grawity]

On Arch Linux with automake 1.14:

$ sh -x ./autorun.sh 
+./autorun.sh:3: aclocal
+./autorun.sh:4: autoheader
+./autorun.sh:5: libtoolize --automake --force --copy
+./autorun.sh:6: automake --add-missing --force --copy
automake: warnings are treated as errors
/usr/share/automake-1.14/am/ltlibrary.am: warning: 'libicb_core.la': linking libtool libraries using a non-POSIX
/usr/share/automake-1.14/am/ltlibrary.am: archiver requires 'AM_PROG_AR' in 'configure.ac'
src/core/Makefile.am:3:   while processing Libtool library 'libicb_core.la'
/usr/share/automake-1.14/am/ltlibrary.am: warning: 'libfe_icb.la': linking libtool libraries using a non-POSIX
/usr/share/automake-1.14/am/ltlibrary.am: archiver requires 'AM_PROG_AR' in 'configure.ac'
src/fe-common/Makefile.am:3:   while processing Libtool library 'libfe_icb.la'
+./autorun.sh:7: autoconf

[strycker]

I have the same problem -- attempting to install libxdg-basedir in cygwin