Problems compiling DBG debugger

Hi I am trying to compile Dmitri Dmitrienko's DBG PHP debugger on RedHat. The docs say to put the DBG directory into the PHP ext directory, delete the existing PHP ./configure shell script, and then create a new configure script by running ./buildconf. My problem is that when I try to run the ./buildconf script I get "permission denied" from every script called. I can only run each script by manually adding "x" to its permissions - but this surely can't be the right way... I am new to compiling on *nix so I am probably making an elementary error. Can anyone help me out? Geoff Caplan