-AC_STEPMAKE_COMPILE
-# AC_HAVE_HEADERS(limits.h malloc.h string.h unistd.h values.h)
-AC_HAVE_HEADERS(assert.h sys/stat.h)
+
+# must come before any header checks
+STEPMAKE_COMPILE
+
+STEPMAKE_PYTHON(REQUIRED,2.1)
+STEPMAKE_GCC(REQUIRED, 2.8)
+STEPMAKE_CXX(REQUIRED)
+STEPMAKE_GXX(REQUIRED, 3.0.5)
+STEPMAKE_CXXTEMPLATE
+STEPMAKE_LIB(REQUIRED)
+# Do not use bison 1.50 and 1.75.
+STEPMAKE_BISON(REQUIRED, 1.25)
+STEPMAKE_FLEX(REQUIRED)
+STEPMAKE_FLEXLEXER(REQUIRED)
+AC_LANG_C
+STEPMAKE_LOCALE
+STEPMAKE_GETTEXT
+STEPMAKE_MSGFMT(REQUIRED)
+STEPMAKE_TEXMF
+STEPMAKE_TEXMF_DIRS
+STEPMAKE_GUILE_DEVEL(REQUIRED, 1.6)
+STEPMAKE_KPATHSEA
+STEPMAKE_MAKEINFO(REQUIRED)
+STEPMAKE_PYTHON_DEVEL(REQUIRED)
+
+
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([assert.h sys/stat.h sstream])