Hi Christoph,
Note, that the issue arises when `make install` is called. tar xf automake-1.18.tar.xz && configure --prefix=/tmp/a18 && make install doesn't run makeinfo for me either. Or make install DESTDIR=/tmp/adest. I can only surmise that something in your process before the make install touched one of the .texi files? make --debug or make --trace, as Paul suggested, is how I usually look for the facts when it comes to unexpected make things happening. --best, karl.
