When I run the configure script, it gives an error: X Window system libraries and header files are required This error text needs improved: I had to look at the source for the configure script to figure out what caused this error (as opposed to other errors which told me which package to install to fix them: great!), and sure enough, it looks like I don't have an X11.h file anywhere in my includes dirs. Now what? This error should be written in a more actionable form that ends with "you need to enable kernel module ***" or "follow instructions at sn.url/***" or something else along those lines. I would also split out the check for tick marks (') in the directories to give a different error than the error given if X11.h isn't found. (just another weird thing I found while reading the source) Linux Mint Sarah XFCE, Gateway LT4004u (64 bit), Kernel 4.4.0-21-generic
It's a xfce4-dev-tools message. See https://git.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-dev-tools/tree/m4macros/xdt-depends.m4#n245 Feel free to provide a patch to enhance the error message. Please note that every distribution has it own package name, so description need to be generic.