First when building libgsf @1.14.43 with MacPorts aclocal/autogen.sh reports:

	DEBUG: system:  cd "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_lil.fr.rsync.macports.org_release_tarballs_ports_gnome_libgsf/libgsf/work/libgsf-1.14.43" && ./autogen.sh --prefix=/opt/local --disable-silent-rules --enable-introspection 
	aclocal: overwriting 'm4/ax_is_release.m4' with '/opt/local/share/aclocal/ax_is_release.m4'
	aclocal: overwriting 'm4/glib-gettext.m4' with '/opt/local/share/aclocal/glib-gettext.m4'
	aclocal: overwriting 'm4/pkg.m4' with '/opt/local/share/aclocal/pkg.m4'
	Copying file po/Makefile.in.in
	
	Please add the files
	  codeset.m4 gettext.m4 glibc21.m4 iconv.m4 isc-posix.m4 lcmessage.m4
	  progtest.m4
	from the /opt/local/share/aclocal directory to your autoconf macro directory
	or directly to your aclocal.m4 file.
	You will also need config.guess and config.sub, which you can get from
	ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/config/.
	
	autoreconf: Entering directory `.'

Configure later fails with:

	config.status: creating gsf-config.h
	config.status: executing depfiles commands
	config.status: error: in `/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_lil.fr.rsync.macports.org_release_tarballs_ports_gnome_libgsf/libgsf/work/libgsf-1.14.43':
	config.status: error: Something went wrong bootstrapping makefile fragments
	    for automatic dependency tracking.  Try re-running configure with the
	    '--disable-dependency-tracking' option to at least be able to build
	    the package (albeit without support for automatic dependency tracking).
	See `config.log' for more details
	Command failed:  cd "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_lil.fr.rsync.macports.org_release_tarballs_ports_gnome_libgsf/libgsf/work/libgsf-1.14.43" && ./autogen.sh --prefix=/opt/local --disable-silent-rules --enable-introspection 
	Exit code: 1
	Error: Failed to configure libgsf, consult /opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_lil.fr.rsync.macports.org_release_tarballs_ports_gnome_libgsf/libgsf/work/libgsf-1.14.43/config.log
	Error: Failed to configure libgsf: configure failure: command execution failed

In config.log I can see:
	
	## ---------------------- ##
	## Running config.status. ##
	## ---------------------- ##
	
	This file was extended by libgsf config.status 1.14.43, which was
	generated by GNU Autoconf 2.69.  Invocation command line was
	
	  CONFIG_FILES    = 
	  CONFIG_HEADERS  = 
	  CONFIG_LINKS    = 
	  CONFIG_COMMANDS = 
	  $ ./config.status 
	
	on tiger
	
	config.status:1265: creating Makefile
	config.status:1265: creating doc/Makefile
	config.status:1265: creating gsf/Makefile
	config.status:1265: creating gsf-win32/Makefile
	config.status:1265: creating python/Makefile
	config.status:1265: creating tests/Makefile
	config.status:1265: creating tools/Makefile
	config.status:1265: creating thumbnailer/Makefile
	config.status:1265: creating po/Makefile.in
	config.status:1265: creating gsf/version.c
	config.status:1265: creating doc/version.xml
	config.status:1265: creating libgsf-1.pc
	config.status:1265: creating libgsf-1.spec
	config.status:1265: creating libgsf-win32-1.pc
	config.status:1265: creating libgsf-zip
	config.status:1265: creating gsf-config.h
	config.status:1494: executing depfiles commands
	config.status:1571: cd gsf       && sed -e '/# am--include-marker/d' Makefile         | make -f - am--depfiles
	/opt/local/share/gobject-introspection-1.0/Makefile.introspection:158: *** Need to define Gsf_1_gir_LIBS or Gsf_1_gir_PROGRAM.  Stop.
	config.status:1576: $? = 2
	config.status:1571: cd gsf-win32       && sed -e '/# am--include-marker/d' Makefile         | make -f - am--depfiles
	config.status:1576: $? = 0
	config.status:1571: cd tests       && sed -e '/# am--include-marker/d' Makefile         | make -f - am--depfiles
	config.status:1576: $? = 0
	config.status:1571: cd tools       && sed -e '/# am--include-marker/d' Makefile         | make -f - am--depfiles
	config.status:1576: $? = 0
	config.status:1571: cd thumbnailer       && sed -e '/# am--include-marker/d' Makefile         | make -f - am--depfiles
	config.status:1576: $? = 0
	config.status:1580: error: in `/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_lil.fr.rsync.macports.org_release_tarballs_ports_gnome_libgsf/libgsf/work/libgsf-1.14.43':
	config.status:1582: error: Something went wrong bootstrapping makefile fragments
	    for automatic dependency tracking.  Try re-running configure with the
	    '--disable-dependency-tracking' option to at least be able to build
	    the package (albeit without support for automatic dependency tracking).
	See `config.log' for more details
	
	## ---------------- ##

Indeed building succeeds without '--disable-dependency-tracking'.

Mentioning "*_gir_*" and a path name with gobject-introspection can lead to misunderstanding. BTW, another MacPorts user reports a very similiar problem with libsecret.

--

Pee