PERL5OPT= $MAKE check || st=$? Done, thanks.
Unsetting PERL5OPT before the test runs automake defeats the purpose of using PERL5OPT here, which is that warnings raised while running Automake should be fatal. I know, but it seemed so minor to worry about it for this one test among hundreds. But anyway, yes, in principle, better this way. Hopefully done for good now :). --thanks, karl.