I'd prefer you to not modify Configure, as that won't help us to pinpoint possible problems.

What was the last command executed before the "hang"? Can you show what command "hang"s with the -x option?

You can make the full log available as (git)paste if you think that would help.

If there is a real problem, I want a real (generic) solution to it!

yes, sure. I just modified Configure to get a feeling for the issue. Once I noticed that my mods just helped me over the first steps and that there was a real problem somewhere, I immediately stopped and turned to the perl monks :)

Now I know a little bit more about the case. I started the Configure script again and watched the system in a parallel session. Here's where it hangs

...
+ cd UU
+ . ./optdef.sh
+ usedevel=define
+ cc=/usr/bin/gcc -maix64
+ prefix=/usr/db/perl/5.24.4.0
+ : Restore computed paths
+ eval awk=$_awk
+ awk=/usr/bin/awk
... (some more variables assigned, some tools used from /opt/freeware/
+bin)
+ eval uname=$_uname
+ uname=/usr/bin/uname
+ eval zip=$_zip
+ zip=zip
+ cat
+ 0< /tmp/sh19793082.25
+ dflt=AIX
+ rp=Operating system name?
+ . ./myread
+ xxxm=AIX
+ echo Operating system name? [AIX]  
+ wc -c
+ test 31 -ge 80
+ echo Operating system name? [AIX] \c
+ 1>& 4
Operating system name? [AIX] + ans=!
+ ans=
+ echo  
+ 1>& 4
 
+ expr X : X!
+ 1> /dev/null
+ ans=AIX
+ + echo AIX
+ /usr/bin/sed -e s/[   ][      ]*/_/g
+ ./tr [A-Z] [a-z]
[download]

in a parallel session I saw this:

# w
^Cksh: 0403-031 The fork function failed. There is not enough memory a
+vailable.

# # after killing the Configure script with Ctrl-C:

# w
  05:25PM   up 29 days,   7:56,  2 users,  load average: 750.00, 165.8
+6, 56.31
User     tty          login@       idle      JCPU      PCPU what
root     pts/0       02:09PM          0         0         0 w
root     pts/1       09:58PM          0      5:09         0 sh
[download]

command restarted and in a parallel windows ps -ef executed

# ps -ef
# ...gazillions of processes like these
    root  4194424 11207344   0 17:29:04  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh tr -d [a-
+zA-Z/]
    root  4456634 20711350   0 17:29:43  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh tr -d [a-
+zA-Z/]
    root  7667866 57804596   0 17:29:28  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh tr -d [a-
+zA-Z/]
    root  8323322 40304812   0 17:29:04  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh tr -d [a-
+zA-Z/]
    root  8585322 31655592   0 17:29:37  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh tr -d [a-
+zA-Z/]
    root  9699528 21430902   0 17:29:07  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh tr -d [a-
+zA-Z/]
    root 10289334 58195982   1 17:29:43  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh tr -d [a-
+zA-Z/]
    root 10420444 63245100   0 17:29:31  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh tr -d [a-
+zA-Z/]
    root 10616884 15731484   0 17:29:36  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh tr -d [a-
+zA-Z/]
    root 11141252 37945842   0 17:29:08  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh tr -d [a-
+zA-Z/]
    root 11796592 28639298   0 17:29:07  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh tr -d [a-
+zA-Z/]
    ...
[download]

would this information help? Or can I provide more information or do some more debugging?

There are several thing to note:

• You are building as root. That is usually not recommended
• I've been digging the git repo history and I cannot find any tr command that takes a-zA-Z as (part of) its arguments
• As Configure spawns quite a number of subshells, can it be that you have some .bashrc for whatever shell you use that does stuff that are not appropriate for the build flow?
• Is your $PATH sane? Do you have some weird tr command somehwere in your $PATH
• You stripped (some more variables assigned, some tools used from /opt/freeware/bin). Is tr one of them? (what commands do you actually need from /opt/freeware/bin?)

Enjoy, Have FUN! H.Merijn