I encountered some problems as I was trying to build GDAL.  
1. Kakadu - I don't have a license.  Do you know how to obtain a free one for the purpose of building GDAL
2. MrSID - The current available version of LizardTech GeoExpress appears to be different from the one the GDAL ./configure expects.  For example, the ./configure expects many .h files to be in the subfolder "support" of the "include" folder of GeoExpress:   
checking for lt_base.h in /Users/local/EC/tban019/Documents/Research/otherprojects/ImageIOExt/lib-macosx/Geo_DSDK-7.0.0.2167/include/support... not found.
   configure: error:   MrSID requested, but components not found.
Any suggestions?  Is there any value in compiling GDAL without Kakadu and MrSID support?  
Compiling GDAL without those supports on my machine has a problem as well.  It needs a 64-bit python library:
ld: warning: in /Library/Frameworks//Python.framework/Python, missing required architecture x86_64 in file
Undefined symbols:
     "_PyFloat_AsDouble", referenced from:
         __wrap_ptrset in gdal_wrap.o
         __wrap_ptrset in gdal_wrap.o
         __wrap_ptrcreate in gdal_wrap.o
         __wrap_ptrcreate in gdal_wrap.o
     "_PyType_Type", referenced from:
	.
	.
	.
   ld: symbol(s) not found
   collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
   make[1]: *** [_gdalmodule.la] E
Any idea what this missing library may be?  I will do some research and talk to the GDAL community as well.
Cheers,
Tawan