faster tests [was: rhel8 test failure confirmation?]

[Karl Berry]

    # A trick to make the test run muuuch faster, by avoiding repeated
    # runs of aclocal (one order of magnitude improvement in speed!).
    echo 'AC_INIT(x,0) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' > configure.ac

Hadn't noticed this before. Maybe you could see what tests are currently
taking the longest to run, and see if the above helps speed them up?

It seems a somewhat weird thing to do, but if it saves enough time, I
guess it would be worth it. --thanks, karl.