cd libmad && make
/bin/sh: line 1: cd: libmad: No such file or directory
make[1]: *** [libmad/.libs/libmad.a] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/stephen/downloads/audacity-src-1.2.0/lib-src'
make: *** [audacity] Error 2


I have the binary of libmad and the devel installed.
Dunno where or why it's going wrong.
Anyone shed any light on it ?

ps when configuring I'm using the --with-libmad
if I don't then when compiled it won't open mp3.


Thanks
Scorpio

you need to run the configure script as follows:

./configure --with-libmad=system

and make sure that libmad libraries are in /usr/lib or in a directory in LD_LIBRARY_PATH

i'm certainly not saying the above is not a fix but you really don't have to pass any arguments to audacity for it to support the things you have installed. It checks and configures correctly on it's own.
i just did ./configure and my config.log says
#define USE_LADSPA 1
#define USE_LIBMAD 1
#define USE_LIBRESAMPLE 1
#define USE_LIBVORBIS 1

first it checks for bsd style mad and that fails then later it does
configure:3794: checking mad.h presence
configure:3804: g++ -E conftest.cc
configure:3810: $? = 0
configure:3830: result: yes
configure:3865: checking for mad.h
configure:3872: result: yes