This appears to be not tested with autoconf (cmake works). The assignment to $LIBS changes nothing, which cannot possibly be the intent.
---
cc-ing to original patch author and sign-off
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac index 1b94701..c760787 100644 --- a/configure.ac +++ b/configure.ac @@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ dnl libmath (for rtl_fm) AC_CHECK_LIB(m, atan2, [LIBS="$LIBS -lm"])
dnl librealtime (for rtl_test) -AC_CHECK_LIB(rt, clock_gettime, [LIBS="$LIBS"]) +AC_CHECK_LIB(rt, clock_gettime, [LIBS="$LIBS -lrt"])
# The following test is taken from WebKit's webkit.m4 saved_CFLAGS="$CFLAGS"