actually an online diff of the makefiles 3.7.6 and 3.7.7 helped to point me in the correct direction. I should have diffed it on the box itself and it was probably the next step but it was nice to have the problem pointed out to me in glowing neon on the web.
darned useful thing on occasion.
I appreciate your compassion for us supporters of relics good to know there are still some good folks out there.