https://bugs.gentoo.org/780450
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ if test "x${CXXFLAGS-notset}" = "xnotset" ; then
 fi
 AC_PROG_CXX
 
+AM_PROG_AR
 dnl Check for ranlib
 AC_PROG_RANLIB