Crashing gtk app in priv/examples

[Yves S. Garret]

Ok.  I don't know why this is happening.

I checked out the code from this place:
http://code.google.com/p/gtknode/source/checkout

I did as it instructed me (autoconf, automake, config, etc.)  The
automake was some what eventful... I haven't touched that application
in what seems like ages, so forgive me if I interpret this as odd
behavior when it's not:
+++
c_src/Makefile.am:3: compiling `gtknode.c' with per-target flags
requires `AM_PROG_CC_C_O' in `configure.ac'
priv/generator/Makefile.am:44: wildcard $(GINC: non-POSIX variable
name
priv/generator/Makefile.am:44: (probably a GNU make extension)
priv/generator/Makefile.am:45: wildcard $(GTKINC: non-POSIX variable
name
priv/generator/Makefile.am:45: (probably a GNU make extension)
priv/generator/Makefile.am:46: wildcard $(GTKINC: non-POSIX variable
name
priv/generator/Makefile.am:46: (probably a GNU make extension)
priv/generator/Makefile.am:47: wildcard $(GTKINC: non-POSIX variable
name
priv/generator/Makefile.am:47: (probably a GNU make extension)
priv/generator/Makefile.am:48: patsubst %, $(GINC: non-POSIX variable
name
priv/generator/Makefile.am:48: (probably a GNU make extension)
priv/generator/Makefile.am:48: shell cat $(srcdir: non-POSIX variable
name
priv/generator/Makefile.am:48: (probably a GNU make extension)
priv/generator/Makefile.am:50: patsubst %, $(GTKINC: non-POSIX
variable name
priv/generator/Makefile.am:50: (probably a GNU make extension)
priv/generator/Makefile.am:50: shell cat $(srcdir: non-POSIX variable
name
priv/generator/Makefile.am:50: (probably a GNU make extension)
priv/generator/Makefile.am:52: patsubst %, $(GTKINC: non-POSIX
variable name
priv/generator/Makefile.am:52: (probably a GNU make extension)
priv/generator/Makefile.am:52: shell cat $(srcdir: non-POSIX variable
name
priv/generator/Makefile.am:52: (probably a GNU make extension)
+++

configure.ac is in the directory.

Now, when I went down into priv/examples/hello_world and compiled the
app.  It compiled just fine.  However, when I started up the virtual
machine and tried to run the program, I was in for a nasty surprise:
+++
1> hello_world:start().
<0.33.0>
2>
=ERROR REPORT==== 14-Jun-2009::21:00:48 ===
Error in process <0.33.0> with exit value: {undef,[{gtknode,start,
[hello_world]},{hello_world,init,0}]}
+++

Unsure how to proceed here.  Any suggestions?  Have I missed
anything?  If I need to post more information about what I've done,
please tell me and I'll do as soon as I can.