=== modified file 'acinclude/squid-util.m4'
--- acinclude/squid-util.m4	2012-10-11 21:14:50 +0000
+++ acinclude/squid-util.m4	2013-04-29 14:13:17 +0000
@@ -249,3 +249,30 @@
       [$4])
 AS_VAR_POPDEF([ac_Search])dnl
 ])
+
+dnl Check for Cyrus SASL
+AC_DEFUN([SQUID_CHECK_SASL],[
+  squid_sasl_present="auto"
+  AC_CHECK_HEADERS(sasl/sasl.h sasl.h)
+  AC_CHECK_LIB(sasl2,sasl_errstring,[LIBSASL="-lsasl2"],[
+    AC_CHECK_LIB(sasl,sasl_errstring,[LIBSASL="-lsasl"], [
+      squid_sasl_present="no"
+    ])
+  ])
+  case "$squid_host_os" in
+    Darwin)
+      if test "$ac_cv_lib_sasl2_sasl_errstring" = "yes" ; then
+        AC_DEFINE(HAVE_SASL_DARWIN,1,[Define to 1 if Mac Darwin without sasl.h])
+        echo "checking for MAC Darwin without sasl.h ... yes"
+        squid_sasl_present="yes"
+      else
+        echo "checking for MAC Darwin without sasl.h ... no"
+        squid_sasl_present="no"
+      fi
+      ;;
+  esac
+  if test "x$squid_sasl_present" != "yes"; then
+    AC_MSG_WARN(Neither SASL nor SASL2 found)
+  fi
+  AC_SUBST(LIBSASL)
+])

=== modified file 'configure.ac'
--- configure.ac	2013-04-16 02:21:47 +0000
+++ configure.ac	2013-04-29 15:47:56 +0000
@@ -1726,45 +1726,7 @@
       To see available helpers, see the helpers/basic_auth directory. ]),[
 #nothing to do really
 ])
-#not specified. Inherit global
-if test "x$enable_auth_basic" = "x"; then
-    enable_auth_basic=$enable_auth
-fi
-#conflicts with global
-if test "x$enable_auth_basic" != "xno" -a "x$enable_auth" = "xno" ; then
-    AC_MSG_ERROR([Basic auth requested but auth disabled])
-fi
-#define list of modules to build
-if test "x$enable_auth_basic" = "xyes" ; then
-    SQUID_LOOK_FOR_MODULES([$srcdir/helpers/basic_auth],[enable_auth_basic])
-fi
-#handle the "none" special case
-if test "x$enable_auth_basic" = "xnone" ; then
-    enable_auth_basic=""
-fi
-BASIC_AUTH_HELPERS=""
-#enable_auth_basic contains either "no" or the list of modules to be built
-enable_auth_basic="`echo $enable_auth_basic| sed -e 's/,/ /g;s/  */ /g'`"
-if test "x$enable_auth_basic" != "xno" ; then
-    AUTH_MODULES="$AUTH_MODULES basic"
-    AC_DEFINE([HAVE_AUTH_MODULE_BASIC],1,[Basic auth module is built])
-    for helper in $enable_auth_basic
-    do
-    dir="$srcdir/helpers/basic_auth/$helper"
-    if test -f "$dir/config.test" && sh "$dir/config.test" "$squid_host_os"; then
-      BASIC_AUTH_HELPERS="$BASIC_AUTH_HELPERS $helper"
-      # special case
-      if test "x$helper" = "xSASL" ; then
-        squid_require_sasl=yes
-      fi
-    elif test -d "$srcdir/helpers/basic_auth/$helper" ; then
-      AC_MSG_NOTICE([Basic auth helper $helper ... found but cannot be built])
-    fi
-    done
-fi
-AC_MSG_NOTICE([Basic auth helpers to be built: $BASIC_AUTH_HELPERS])
-AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_AUTH_BASIC, test "x$enable_auth_basic" != "xno")
-AC_SUBST(BASIC_AUTH_HELPERS)
+m4_include([helpers/basic_auth/modules.m4])
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(auth-ntlm,
   AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-auth-ntlm="list of helpers"],
@@ -2096,7 +2058,7 @@
       EXTERNAL_ACL_HELPERS="$EXTERNAL_ACL_HELPERS $helper"
       # special case
       if test "x$helper" = "xkerberos_ldap_group" ; then
-        squid_require_sasl=yes
+        SQUID_CHECK_SASL
       fi
     else
       AC_MSG_NOTICE([external acl helper $helper ... found but cannot be built])
@@ -2184,27 +2146,6 @@
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([MS Windows service mode enabled: $enable_win32_service])
 
 
-# Check for Cyrus SASL
-if test "x$squid_require_sasl" = "xyes"; then
-  AC_CHECK_HEADERS(sasl/sasl.h sasl.h)
-  AC_CHECK_LIB(sasl2,sasl_errstring,[LIBSASL="-lsasl2"],[
-    AC_CHECK_LIB(sasl,sasl_errstring,[LIBSASL="-lsasl"], [
-      AC_MSG_ERROR(Neither SASL nor SASL2 found)
-    ])
-  ])
-  case "$squid_host_os" in
-    Darwin)
-      if test "$ac_cv_lib_sasl2_sasl_errstring" = "yes" ; then
-        AC_DEFINE(HAVE_SASL_DARWIN,1,[Define to 1 if Mac Darwin without sasl.h])
-        echo "checking for MAC Darwin without sasl.h ... yes"
-      else
-        echo "checking for MAC Darwin without sasl.h ... no"
-      fi
-      ;;
-  esac
-  AC_SUBST(LIBSASL)
-fi
-
 # Disable "unlinkd" code
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(unlinkd,
   AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-unlinkd],[Do not use unlinkd]), [

=== renamed file 'helpers/basic_auth/DB/config.test' => 'helpers/basic_auth/DB/required.m4'
--- helpers/basic_auth/DB/config.test	2010-03-31 15:59:21 +0000
+++ helpers/basic_auth/DB/required.m4	2013-04-29 15:37:09 +0000
@@ -1,7 +1,3 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-## Test: do we have perl to build the helper scripts?
-## Test: do we have pod2man to build the manual?
-perl --version >/dev/null && echo | pod2man >/dev/null
-
-exit $?
+if test "x$PERL" != "x" -a "x$POD2MAN" != "x"; then
+  BUILD_HELPER="DB"
+fi

=== renamed file 'helpers/basic_auth/LDAP/config.test' => 'helpers/basic_auth/LDAP/required.m4'
--- helpers/basic_auth/LDAP/config.test	2013-04-16 13:06:01 +0000
+++ helpers/basic_auth/LDAP/required.m4	2013-04-29 15:37:35 +0000
@@ -1,8 +1,1 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-if [ -f /usr/include/ldap.h -o -f /usr/local/include/ldap.h ]; then
-	exit 0
-fi
-if [ -f /usr/include/winldap.h ]; then
-	exit 0
-fi
-exit 1
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([ldap.h winldap.h],[BUILD_HELPER="LDAP"])

=== renamed file 'helpers/basic_auth/SASL/config.test' => 'helpers/basic_auth/SASL/required.m4'
--- helpers/basic_auth/SASL/config.test	2013-04-16 13:06:01 +0000
+++ helpers/basic_auth/SASL/required.m4	2013-04-29 15:37:54 +0000
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-if [ -f /usr/include/sasl.h -o -f /usr/local/include/sasl.h ]; then
-	exit 0
-fi
-if [ -f /usr/include/sasl/sasl.h -o -f /usr/local/include/sasl/sasl.h ]; then
-	exit 0
-fi
-exit 1
+SQUID_CHECK_SASL
+
+# on success, add to the built modules list
+if test "x$squid_check_sasl" = "xyes"; then
+  BUILD_HELPER="SASL"
+fi

=== renamed file 'helpers/basic_auth/fake/config.test' => 'helpers/basic_auth/fake/required.m4'
--- helpers/basic_auth/fake/config.test	2010-07-12 14:45:17 +0000
+++ helpers/basic_auth/fake/required.m4	2013-04-29 15:42:52 +0000
@@ -1,2 +1,1 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-exit 0
+BUILD_HELPER="fake"

=== added file 'helpers/basic_auth/modules.m4'
--- helpers/basic_auth/modules.m4	1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000
+++ helpers/basic_auth/modules.m4	2013-04-29 15:54:48 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+# This file is supposed to run all the tests required to identify which
+# configured modules are able to be built in this environment
+
+# FIXME: de-duplicate $enable_auth_basic list containing double entries.
+
+#not specified. Inherit global
+if test "x$enable_auth_basic" = "x"; then
+    enable_auth_basic=$enable_auth
+fi
+#conflicts with global
+if test "x$enable_auth_basic" != "xno" -a "x$enable_auth" = "xno" ; then
+    AC_MSG_ERROR([Basic auth requested but auth disabled])
+fi
+#define list of modules to build
+if test "x$enable_auth_basic" = "xyes" ; then
+    SQUID_LOOK_FOR_MODULES([$srcdir/helpers/basic_auth],[enable_auth_basic])
+fi
+#handle the "none" special case
+if test "x$enable_auth_basic" = "xnone" ; then
+    enable_auth_basic=""
+fi
+
+BASIC_AUTH_HELPERS=""
+#enable_auth_basic contains either "no" or the list of modules to be built
+enable_auth_basic="`echo $enable_auth_basic| sed -e 's/,/ /g;s/  */ /g'`"
+if test "x$enable_auth_basic" != "xno" ; then
+    AUTH_MODULES="$AUTH_MODULES basic"
+    AC_DEFINE([HAVE_AUTH_MODULE_BASIC],1,[Basic auth module is built])
+    for helper in $enable_auth_basic
+    do
+    dir="$srcdir/helpers/basic_auth/$helper"
+
+      # modules converted to autoconf macros already
+      # NP: we only need this list because m4_include() does not accept variables
+      if test "x$helper" = "xDB" ; then
+        m4_include([helpers/basic_auth/DB/required.m4])
+
+      elif test "x$helper" = "xfake" ; then
+        m4_include([helpers/basic_auth/fake/required.m4])
+
+      elif test "x$helper" = "xLDAP" ; then
+        m4_include([helpers/basic_auth/LDAP/required.m4])
+
+      elif test "x$helper" = "xSASL" ; then
+        m4_include([helpers/basic_auth/SASL/required.m4])
+
+# TODO others...
+
+      # modules not yet converted to autoconf macros (or third party drop-in's)
+      elif test -f "$dir/config.test" && sh "$dir/config.test" "$squid_host_os"; then
+        BUILD_HELPER="$helper"
+      fi
+
+      if test -d "$srcdir/helpers/basic_auth/$helper"; then
+        if test "$BUILD_HELPER" != "$helper"; then
+          AC_MSG_NOTICE([Basic auth helper $helper ... found but cannot be built])
+        else
+          BASIC_AUTH_HELPERS="$BASIC_AUTH_HELPERS $BUILD_HELPER"
+        fi
+      else
+          AC_MSG_ERROR([Basic auth helper $helper ... not found])
+      fi
+    done
+fi
+
+AC_MSG_NOTICE([Basic auth helpers to be built: $BASIC_AUTH_HELPERS])
+AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_AUTH_BASIC, test "x$enable_auth_basic" != "xno")
+AC_SUBST(BASIC_AUTH_HELPERS)