--libexecdir=`pkg-config --variable=prefix ORBit-2.0`/sbin: This switch puts libexec files in $GNOME_PREFIX/sbin instead of $GNOME_PREFIX/libexec. --disable-gtk-doc: This switch prevent the rebuilding of the documentation during the make command. cp /usr/bin/libtool .: The libtool generated by configure is faulty, hence the system installed libtool script is copied over.