mySQL 3.23.35 question. (no replies)

I have a serioius question regarding an older version of mySQL; responses to my questions here essentially determinte if I turn away from the product, in any incarnation, or otherwise.

I have the 3.23.35.tar.gz file, however I find that I can't compile or build it;
I have gotten thread library error messages, and now that I'm in MAndriva 2011 64 bit, I also get unknown OS error messages. Things like the following:


./configure;
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

checking host system type... Invalid configuration `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu': machine `x86_64-unknown' not recognized

checking target system type... Invalid configuration `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu': machine `x86_64-unknown' not recognized

checking build system type... Invalid configuration `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu': machine `x86_64-unknown' not recognized

...

configure: error: libtool configure failed

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is there some way to get past this, and still stick to this version of mySQL?