Can't build from cvs sources

[Robert Mecklenburg]

I've checked out the head of the cvs trunk and followed the
instructions in README.cvs but the autoreconf fails:

    autoreconf -i -s
    Makefile.am: required file `./README' not found
    configure.in:398: required file `build.sh.in' not found
    autoreconf: automake failed with exit status: 1

I've installed new versions of many tools, but this seems insufficient:

    1013 oops:make$ autoreconf --version
    autoreconf (GNU Autoconf) 2.59
    Written by David J. MacKenzie and Akim Demaille.

    Copyright (C) 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
    warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
    1014 oops:make$ automake --version
    automake (GNU automake) 1.9
    Written by Tom Tromey <address@hidden>.

    Copyright 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
    warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
    1015 oops:make$ gettext --version
    gettext (GNU gettext-runtime) 0.14.1
    Copyright (C) 1995-1997, 2000-2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
    warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
    Written by Ulrich Drepper.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
-- 
Robert