lirc-0.8.0 on kernel 2.6.18 won't compile / USB- support?

[Tim B. <ti...@bo...>]

Hello!
I'm trying to set up a remote control for mythtv and am stuck on the
very first steps.

First, lirc won't compile with my kernel. (Yes, it's a self-compiled
from kernel.org)
Sven Aust posted this problem a few days ago, but the gentoo site hinted
at by Karl Hiramoto doesn't seem to help. This looks like a general
problem, compile error is posted below.

Second, i'd like to know if my usb receiver might be any use for this.
Is there any way of finding out if my receiver might work with lirc?
lsusb -v is quite useless with my hardware, almost no information.
Which device is the one for a usb receiver?

Thanks for any hint,

	timbo

Output of "make". The files reported to be missing are present.

Makefile:8: **************************************************
Makefile:8: *** Makefile trick not undone, trying to recover *
Makefile:8: **************************************************
mv Makefile.automake Makefile
make all
make[4]: Entering directory `/tmp/lirc-0.8.0/drivers/lirc_streamzap'
mv Makefile Makefile.automake
cp ../Makefile.kernel Makefile
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.18/build/
SUBDIRS=/tmp/lirc-0.8.0/drivers/lirc_streamzap modules \
                KBUILD_VERBOSE=1
make[5]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6'
test -e include/linux/autoconf.h -a -e include/config/auto.conf || (
        \
        echo;                                                           \
        echo "  ERROR: Kernel configuration is invalid.";               \
        echo "         include/linux/autoconf.h or
include/config/auto.conf are missing.";      \
        echo "         Run 'make oldconfig && make prepare' on kernel
src to fix it.";  \
        echo;                                                           \
        /bin/false)