it is an x86_64 machine but "configure" concludes that "Platform: i386-pc"?

[Dr. Dov Bulka]

I'm running Linux as a virtual machine in VMWare ESX server.

The output of the "uname -a" command is

"Linux ... 2.6.18-8.el5 ... x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux"

Clearly this is an x86_64 architecture.

I downloaded GRUB2 using " ftp alpha.gnu.org". When I ran the "./configure" command, it concluded that

"Platform: i386-pc"

Is that okay? Seems like I'm starting on the wrong foot here. I'd like to be able to use Grub to bootload an x86_64 based OS.

It may be related(?) to the fact that a preceeding "./autogen.sh" did not succeed. The reply that I got from it was:

"configure.ac:147: error: possible undefined macro: AC_PROG_MKDIR_P"