On 11 August 2014 15:30, Jeremy Hall wrote: > After a fresh install on Linux Mint 17 (64-bit) I am attempting to build > the latest gcc using the following (which has worked in the past):- > > cd gcc-4.9.1 > contrib/download_prerequisites > mkdir obj > cd obj > ../configure --disable-multilib > > The configure ends with the following:- > ... > checking where to find the target readelf... host tool > checking where to find the target strip... host tool > checking where to find the target windres... host tool > checking where to find the target windmc... host tool > checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... no > configure: creating ./config.status > /bin/bash: _tar: line 12: syntax error near unexpected token `(' > /bin/bash: _tar: line 12: ` ?(-)*[cr]*f)' > /bin/bash: error importing function definition for `_tar' > config.status: creating Makefile > /tmp/gcc-4.9.1/obj* > > What am I doing wrong, or what is missing? I've never seen that error before, there should not be a call to tar being done there. It looks like something in your environment is causing the problem, try to find where "_tar" is being defined (maybe in ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bashrc or /etc/bashrc).