expect (alternatives?) on embedded linux machine

[Ryan Speed]

I realize this might fall into the off topic category but I'm
wondering if anyone's had any luck compiling expect on nslu2
(http://www.nslu2-linux.org/) box, any mention I found in the expect
archives leads nowhere.  Alternative to this would be to try a python
implementation of expect, has anyone gone down this road to get rancid
running on one of these boxes or something similar?

see below for the roadblock, im not a coder so it's got me scratching my head.

thanks in advance,
ryan

configuring Expect 5.43.0
checking for autoconf... yes
checking configure up to date... yes
checking host system type... Invalid configuration
`armv5b-unknown-linux-gnu': machine `armv5b-unknown' not recognized

checking target system type... Invalid configuration
`armv5b-unknown-linux-gnu': machine `armv5b-unknown' not recognized

checking build system type... Invalid configuration
`armv5b-unknown-linux-gnu': machine `armv5b-unknown' not recognized

checking shell to use within Make...
checking for gcc... gcc
checking whether the C compiler (gcc  ) works... yes
checking whether the C compiler (gcc  ) is a cross-compiler... no
checking whether we are using GNU C... yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for building with threads... no (default)
checking for Tcl configuration... configure: warning: Can't find Tcl
configuration definitions .: #: not found
checking Tcl build library...
checking for Tcl_CreateCommand... no
checking if Tcl library build specification is valid... no
checking for Tk configuration... configure: warning: Can't find Tk
configuration definitions
checking for Tk_Init... no
checking if Tk library build specification is valid... no
checking whether the compiler () actually works... configure: error:
the native compiler is broken and won't compile.