First, the simple solution is to get your freeware at a trusted binary source. I build from source a lot because pkg needs root, and I just want a user installation. The configure and make process builds make files, scripts and their resources, and somewhere it decided to slip in 'false' for 'ar'. Not only is ar the right tool, the arguments match:
Man Page for ar (linux Section 1) - The UNIX and Linux Forums
Googling autoconf false ar, I find:
http://surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/fs...3F.28MacOSX.29