Very odd!
I just got my hammerfall working again, so I had time to devote to
getting gem to build. I deleted my old gem-0.90.0 directory,
downloaded a new copy and patched it with the patch supplied by
(the very kind) Guenter Geiger: 00_buildsys.patch.gz
Unlike before, the patch installed without complaint! I must have
accidently ran it aginst a version of the source that I had already
tinkered with. Sorry Mr. Geiger.
I dont know what gem is configured with, as there were no options for
./configure --help. I hope ieee1394 is installed.
Anyway, it configured and built without complaint this time, for my
AMD64 laptop and 2.6.9-rc3!
Now about zexy...
Thanks for the help Guenter Geiger!
-thewade