http://in3www.epfl.ch/~schaffne/glibc-configure-apple-as.patch
http://sources.redhat.com/ml/crossgcc/2004-02/msg00151.html

The following makes it possible to configure glibc-2.3.2 on Mac OS X,
where the assembler but doesn't understand the --version flag.

Fixes the symptom
checking whether ld is GNU ld... no
checking for /usr/libexec/gcc/darwin/ppc/as... /usr/libexec/gcc/darwin/ppc/as
checking version of /usr/libexec/gcc/darwin/ppc/as... 
<PAUSES HERE AND JUST SITS THERE DOING NOTHING>

---
 configure |    6 +++---
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

Index: glibc-2.8-20080811/configure
===================================================================
--- glibc-2.8-20080811.orig/configure
+++ glibc-2.8-20080811/configure
@@ -4527,7 +4527,7 @@ else
   # Found it, now check the version.
   { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: checking version of $AS" >&5
 echo $ECHO_N "checking version of $AS... $ECHO_C" >&6; }
-  ac_prog_version=`$AS --version 2>&1 | sed -n 's/^.*GNU assembler.* \([0-9]*\.[0-9.]*\).*$/\1/p'`
+  ac_prog_version=`$AS -v </dev/null 2>&1 | sed -n 's/^.*GNU assembler.* \([0-9]*\.[0-9.]*\).*$/\1/p'`
   case $ac_prog_version in
     '') ac_prog_version="v. ?.??, bad"; ac_verc_fail=yes;;
     2.1[3-9]*)
@@ -4538,7 +4538,7 @@ echo $ECHO_N "checking version of $AS...
   { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: $ac_prog_version" >&5
 echo "${ECHO_T}$ac_prog_version" >&6; }
 fi
-if test $ac_verc_fail = yes; then
+if test $ac_verc_fail = yes -a -z "$enable_hacker_mode"; then
   AS=: critic_missing="$critic_missing as"
 fi
 
@@ -4601,7 +4601,7 @@ echo $ECHO_N "checking version of $LD...
   { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: $ac_prog_version" >&5
 echo "${ECHO_T}$ac_prog_version" >&6; }
 fi
-if test $ac_verc_fail = yes; then
+if test $ac_verc_fail = yes -a -z "$enable_hacker_mode"; then
   LD=: critic_missing="$critic_missing ld"
 fi