OK, clean up and start over

make clean
./configure --without-csf --without-gd --without-gsl --without-netcdf --without-curses --with-libgstat
mkdir gstatinc
( cd src ; make gstat-lib )
( cd qt; make gstat-lib )  # well crap this dies...
( cd meschach; make gstat-lib ) # so does this
make lib/libmeschach.a # well at least this works
ls lib/
  libgstat.a  libmeschach.a

Good enough. Though this whole gstatinc thing is dumb. At least do

cd include/
ln -s ../gstatinc/* .

Then I can

mkdir ups
cp $MINUIT_DIR/ups/minuit.table ups/gstat.table
eups declare -c -r $PWD gstat 2.5.1

and I have my gstat lib available for my code!