p.s. for comparison - went back in time a bit and tried version 8-20. Here a summary of how that progressed (note, the warnings here are comparable to the warnings in 8.22)

FORCE_UNSAFE_CONFIGURE=1 buildaix -d
+ CPPFLAGS="-I/opt/include" CFLAGS="-O2 -qlanglvl=extc99" ./configure \
        --prefix=/opt/coreutils \
        --sysconfdir=/var/coreutils/etc \
        --sharedstatedir=/var/coreutils/com \
        --localstatedir=/var/coreutils \
        --mandir=/usr/share/man \
        --infodir=/opt/share/info/coreutils \
                > build/aix/configure.out
cmp: EOF on conftest.ok
configure: WARNING: libattr development library was not found or not usable.
configure: WARNING: GNU coreutils will be built without xattr support.
configure: WARNING: libcap library was not found or not usable.
configure: WARNING: GNU coreutils will be built without capability support.
configure: WARNING: libgmp development library was not found or not usable.
configure: WARNING: GNU coreutils will be built without GMP support.
+ /opt/bin/make > build/aix/make.out
"lib/set-mode-acl.c", line 630.18: 1506-280 (W) Function argument assignment between types "char*" and "const char*" is not allowed.
"lib/copy-acl.c", line 510.19: 1506-280 (W) Function argument assignment between types "char*" and "const char*" is not allowed.
"lib/copy-acl.c", line 516.19: 1506-280 (W) Function argument assignment between types "char*" and "const char*" is not allowed.
"lib/file-has-acl.c", line 875.20: 1506-280 (W) Function argument assignment between types "char*" and "const char*" is not allowed.
"lib/euidaccess.c", line 84.19: 1506-280 (W) Function argument assignment between types "char*" and "const char*" is not allowed.
"lib/mountlist.c", line 829.45: 1506-280 (W) Function argument assignment between types "char*" and "struct vmount*" is not allowed.
"lib/mountlist.c", line 834.46: 1506-280 (W) Function argument assignment between types "char*" and "struct vmount*" is not allowed.
"lib/readutmp.c", line 100.23: 1506-280 (W) Function argument assignment between types "char*" and "const char*" is not allowed.
    1500-030: (I) INFORMATION: copy_internal: Additional optimization may be attained by recompiling and specifying MAXMEM option with a value greater than 8192.
    1500-030: (I) INFORMATION: copy_internal: Additional optimization may be attained by recompiling and specifying MAXMEM option with a value greater than 8192.
"src/stat.c", line 1204.25: 1506-280 (W) Function argument assignment between types "struct statvfs64* restrict" and "struct statvfs*" is not allowed.
      77 1500-010: (W) WARNING in main: Infinite loop. Program may not stop.
+ /opt/bin/make install DESTDIR=/var/tmp/root/coreutils-8.20.0.0 > build/aix/install.out
/opt/bin/install: cannot create regular file `/var/tmp/root/coreutils-8.20.0.0/opt/coreutils/lib/lib/charset.alias': No such file or directory
+ mkinstallp.ksh /var/tmp/root/coreutils-8.20.0.0 > build/aix/mkinstallp.out
==============================
aixtools.coreutils:aixtools.coreutils.man:8.20.0.0::I:T:::::N:man pages 2014.Jun.13 13.56 CUT::::0::
aixtools.coreutils:aixtools.coreutils.rte:8.20.0.0::I:T:::::N:coreutils 2014.Jun.13 13.56 CUT::::0::
aixtools.coreutils:aixtools.coreutils.share:8.20.0.0::I:T:::::N:share and documentation 2014.Jun.13 13.56 CUT::::0::
==============================
root@x093:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils/coreutils-8.20]

On Fri, Jun 13, 2014 at 3:40 PM, Michael Felt <mamfelt@gmail.com> wrote:

Just noticed: need to add:
cc   -O2 -qlanglvl=extc99   -o src/ptx src/ptx.o src/libver.a lib/libcoreutils.a lib/libcoreutils.a -lpthread

On Fri, Jun 13, 2014 at 3:38 PM, Michael Felt <mamfelt@gmail.com> wrote:

For the most part, the configure and build runs quite clean. There are few warnings about assignment of a char* to a const char*.

A few utils are missing the -lpthread library assignment:

To fix this, using make -i I indentified the group (after it was more than 1)

These four - at least -

cc   -O2 -qlanglvl=extc99   -o src/csplit src/csplit.o src/libver.a lib/libcoreutils.a lib/libcoreutils.a -lpthread
cc   -O2 -qlanglvl=extc99   -o src/expr src/expr.o src/libver.a lib/libcoreutils.a lib/libcoreutils.a -lpthread
cc   -O2 -qlanglvl=extc99   -o src/nl src/nl.o src/libver.a lib/libcoreutils.a lib/libcoreutils.a -lpthread
cc   -O2 -qlanglvl=extc99   -o src/tac src/tac.o src/libver.a lib/libcoreutils.a lib/libcoreutils.a -lpthread

Further there are two source files that are not compiling because of undefs

make[2]: Entering directory `/data/prj/gnu/coreutils/coreutils-8.22'
CC       src/od.o
"src/od.c", line 432.47: 1506-045 (S) Undeclared identifier _GL_FLT_PREC_BOUND.
"src/od.c", line 432.47: 1506-1324 (S) Array size must have integer type.
"src/od.c", line 433.49: 1506-045 (S) Undeclared identifier _GL_DBL_PREC_BOUND.
"src/od.c", line 433.49: 1506-1324 (S) Array size must have integer type.
"src/od.c", line 434.60: 1506-045 (S) Undeclared identifier _GL_LDBL_PREC_BOUND.
"src/od.c", line 434.60: 1506-1324 (S) Array size must have integer type.
make[2]: [src/od.o] Error 1 (ignored)
CCLD     src/od
cc: 1501-228 (W) input file src/od.o not found
make[2]: [src/od] Error 252 (ignored)
CCLD     src/ptx
ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .pthread_mutex_lock
ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .pthread_mutex_unlock
ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .pthread_mutex_init
ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .pthread_mutex_destroy
ld: 0711-345 Use the -bloadmap or -bnoquiet option to obtain more information.
make[2]: [src/ptx] Error 8 (ignored)
CC       src/getlimits.o
"src/getlimits.c", line 110.45: 1506-045 (S) Undeclared identifier _GL_FLT_PREC_BOUND.
"src/getlimits.c", line 110.45: 1506-1324 (S) Array size must have integer type.
"src/getlimits.c", line 111.46: 1506-045 (S) Undeclared identifier _GL_DBL_PREC_BOUND.
"src/getlimits.c", line 111.46: 1506-1324 (S) Array size must have integer type.
"src/getlimits.c", line 112.53: 1506-045 (S) Undeclared identifier _GL_LDBL_PREC_BOUND.
"src/getlimits.c", line 112.53: 1506-1324 (S) Array size must have integer type.
make[2]: [src/getlimits.o] Error 1 (ignored)
CCLD     src/getlimits
cc: 1501-228 (W) input file src/getlimits.o not found

Not sure how to resolve the missing definitions - do not wish to make assumptions.

Regards,
Michael Felt