revert back to make invoking flex, fix a few bugs

configure.ac

@@ -8,9 +8,13 @@ AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([parallel-tests])
 AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_CC_STDC
 AC_PROG_CPP_WERROR
+AC_PROG_YACC
 
 AM_PROG_CC_C_O
 
+dnl couldn't use AM_PROG_LEX as it doesn't support header files like the
+dnl AC_PROG_YACC macros...
+
 dnl   CFLAGS is concidered a packagers variable, not a developer variable
 dnl   in Auto-tools.  For developer ease of use, CFLAGS are set how the
 dnl   developers like them by default but the packager can disable if so
@@ -28,6 +32,10 @@ if test "$enable_devcflags" = "yes"; then
   AM_CONDITIONAL(DEVCFLAGS_ENABLED, true)
 fi
 
+dnl
+dnl these program checks should probably be deleted
+dnl
+
 dnl Check for sed
 AC_CHECK_PROGS(regex_cmd, sed)
 if test x$regex_cmd = "x" ; then
@@ -46,8 +54,6 @@ if test x$bison_cmd = "x" ; then
     AC_MSG_NOTICE([bison is required to patch jq.])
 fi
 
- AC_CONFIG_HEADERS(config.h)
-
 dnl Check for python
 AC_CHECK_PROGS(python_cmd, python)
 if test x$python_cmd = "x" ; then
@@ -61,6 +67,7 @@ if test x$valgrind_cmd = "x" ; then
 fi
 
 dnl AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
+AC_CONFIG_HEADERS(config.h)
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([-Wall dist-bzip2 dist-zip])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
 AC_OUTPUT