While trying to compile a package via autoconf:

[root@veronica ssh-1.2.26]# ./configure
loading cache ./config.cache
checking host system type... i586-unknown-linux
checking cached information... ok
checking for gcc... gcc
checking whether the C compiler (gcc  ) works... no
configure: error: installation or configuration problem: C
compiler cannot create executables.

Unfortunately the configure script is very vague in
determining the problem.

The gcc, binutils and glibc packages from the default 5.2
install cd are installed. None of these package
installations have indicated any dependancy problems. As far
as the RPM database is concerned, there are no missing
components, however configure thinks otherwise.