If you are using Mesa 5 you may need an updated scripts/axis.py which can be obtained from the CVS. (This fixed a segfault on one machine.)
If you are building AXIS with gcc2 instead of gcc3, you will need an updated extensions/_toglmodule.c which is also available from CVS.
If you need help building or installing AXIS, I will be available on the IRC channel off and on tonight and most of the day tomorrow (Monday, at least 1400-2200 UTC).
(originally posted on the AXIS blog)