i've downloaded postgresql-8.1.4, and tried to follow the instruction and install it, but it doesn't work properly. see below:

$ ./configure
checking build system type... i686-pc-linux-gnuoldld
checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnuoldld
checking which template to use... linux
checking whether to build with 64-bit integer date/time support... no
checking whether NLS is wanted... no
checking for default port number... 5432
checking for gcc... no
checking for cc... no
configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH
See `config.log' for more details.

$ gmake
bash: gmake: command not found

what's going on here ? can anyone explain how to do it ?

cheers !

Maybe you can try "make",not "gmake", my Ubuntu use make by default.