To build Openbox from CVS you need:
-A C++ Compiler (GNU GCC/G++ 3.2+ suggested)
+A C++ Compiler (GNU GCC/G++ 3.2+ suggested, 2.9x is not supported as it is not
+ very compliant with the ISO C++ standards)
GNU Gettext 0.11.5
GNU Autoconf 2.50+
-GNU Automake 1.7+ (<= 1.4 confirmed to not work)
+GNU Automake 1.7.1+ (1.7.1 has a bug fix for py-compile)
GNU Libtool
Xft2 library/headers (devel package) (http://www.fontconfig.org)
Xlib library/headers (devel package)
Python library/headers (devel package) (http://www.python.org)
-SWIG 1.3.17+ (http://www.swig.org)
+SWIG 1.3.14+ (http://www.swig.org)
I recommend the latest version of all these packages.