[EMBOSS] OS X install fails with "ld: can't locate file for: -lX11"

[Robin Colgrove]

Hello all,

I am new to the list. Apologies if this is an FAQ. I could not find it 
in the archives.
Anyway, I am running OS X 10.3.8 and downloaded the latest EMBOSS, 
2.10.0.
I followed the instruction for installation, ./configure, then
sudo make
which goes on for a long time, compiling an lot of things, but then 
finally fails with:
[...lots of stuff compiled OK...]
source='aaindexextract.c' object='aaindexextract.o' libtool=no \
DEPDIR=.deps depmode=gcc /bin/sh ../depcomp \
gcc -DPACKAGE_NAME=\"\" -DPACKAGE_TARNAME=\"\" -DPACKAGE_VERSION=\"\" 
-DPACKAGE_STRING=\"\" -DPACKAGE_BUGREPORT=\"\" -DPACKAGE=\"EMBOSS\" 
-DVERSION=\"2.10.0\" -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_SYS_TYPES_H=1 
-DHAVE_SYS_STAT_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 
-DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_STRINGS_H=1 -DHAVE_INTTYPES_H=1 
-DHAVE_STDINT_H=1 -DHAVE_UNISTD_H=1 -DX_DISPLAY_MISSING=1 
-DHAVE_DIRENT_H=1 -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_UNISTD_H=1 -DGETPGRP_VOID=1 
-DHAVE_STRFTIME=1 -DHAVE_UNISTD_H=1 -DHAVE_FORK=1 -DHAVE_VFORK=1 
-DHAVE_WORKING_VFORK=1 -DHAVE_WORKING_FORK=1 -DHAVE_VPRINTF=1 
-DHAVE_MEMMOVE=1 -DHAVE_LIBM=1  -I. -I. -I../nucleus -I../ajax 
-I../plplot  -DAJ_MACOSXLF  -DBENDIAN -DNO_AUTH  -O2 -c 
aaindexextract.c
/bin/sh ../libtool --tag=CC --mode=link gcc  -O2   -o aaindexextract  
aaindexextract.o ../nucleus/libnucleus.la ../ajax/libajaxg.la 
../ajax/libajax.la ../plplot/libplplot.la -lX11  -lm
mkdir .libs
gcc -O2 -o .libs/aaindexextract aaindexextract.o  
../nucleus/.libs/libnucleus.dylib ../ajax/.libs/libajaxg.dylib 
../ajax/.libs/libajax.dylib ../plplot/.libs/libplplot.dylib -lX11 -lm
ld: can't locate file for: -lX11
make[2]: *** [aaindexextract] Error 1
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make: *** [all-recursive] Error 1

[...and then exits...]

just to see if it would work, I tried
sudo make install
which installed a lot of things but then failed with:

/bin/sh ../libtool --tag=CC --mode=link gcc  -O2   -o aaindexextract  
aaindexextract.o ../nucleus/libnucleus.la ../ajax/libajaxg.la 
../ajax/libajax.la ../plplot/libplplot.la -lX11  -lm
gcc -O2 -o .libs/aaindexextract aaindexextract.o  
../nucleus/.libs/libnucleus.dylib ../ajax/.libs/libajaxg.dylib 
../ajax/.libs/libajax.dylib ../plplot/.libs/libplplot.dylib -lX11 -lm
ld: can't locate file for: -lX11
make[2]: *** [aaindexextract] Error 1
make[1]: *** [install-recursive] Error 1
make: *** [install-recursive] Error 1

Hoping it would work anyway, I tried the tutorial and the first example:
%wossname
fails with
tcsh: wossname: Command not found.
even though I see:
/usr/local/share/EMBOSS/acd/wossname.acd

My knowledge of these things is rudimentary, but the error seems to be 
complaining about not finding X11, but that can't be right, since I 
have
X11 1.0 - XFree86 4.3.0
and have been using it for other programs like Phred/Phrap/Consed.

Does anyone know what this error means and how to fix it?

thanks

robin colgrove
department of microbiology
harvard medical school