[Valgrind-users] install question: how to build for multiple architectures?

[Russell E. O. <rowen@u.washington.edu>]

I'm trying to install Valgrid 3.4.1 on a shared disk in such a way that 
all of our users can use it, though we have a mix of various flavors of 
linux box (x86 64-bit, 32-bit and AMD64).

I assume this is the relevant section of the documentation, but I cannot 
make heads or tails out of it:

--- begin quote ---

Compiling For Multiple Architectures
====================================

   You can compile the package for more than one kind of computer at the
same time, by placing the object files for each architecture in their
own directory.  To do this, you must use a version of `make' that
supports the `VPATH' variable, such as GNU `make'.  `cd' to the
directory where you want the object files and executables to go and run
the `configure' script.  `configure' automatically checks for the
source code in the directory that `configure' is in and in `..'.

--- end quote ---

I have gnu make, so that's all right.

I have my source code unpacked in a dir on my local disk. Normally I'd 
do this in the root of the unpacked source:
   ./configure --prefix=desired-location-on-shared-disk
but apparently that's not sufficient to get a build that supports 
multiple platforms. So what to do instead? The instructions say:

cd' to the directory where you want the object files and executables to 
go and run the `configure' script...

but I don't know what that means. cd to the desired destination 
directory? If so, why would running configure in my source tree from the 
desired destination directory have any effect on the target platforms 
that are built? Or should I cd to various target-specific directories in 
the source distro? That makes more sense, but I haven't been able to 
find any such dirs. What am I missing?

An example or some hints would be most appreciated.

-- Russell