make -j not working in my documentation directory - but why?

[Ed Hartnett]

Howdy all!

I am a developer for netCDF, a free software library that helps Earth
scientists store array data.

We have a documentation directory, and it's the only one for which "make
-j check" does not work. (Without the -j, it works.) 

I would really like to understand why this is not working!

The distribution is available here:
ftp://ftp.unidata.ucar.edu/pub/netcdf/snapshot/netcdf-daily.tar.gz

To reproduce, unpack and do:
./configure && make -j check

Here's how it fails:

        rc=0; \
          CDPATH="${ZSH_VERSION+.}:" && cd .; \
        else \
          rc=$?; \
          CDPATH="${ZSH_VERSION+.}:" && cd . && \
          $restore $backupdir/* `echo "./netcdf-c.info" | sed
          's|[^/]*$||'`; \
        fi; \
        rm -rf $backupdir; exit $rc
TEXINPUTS=".:$TEXINPUTS" \
        MAKEINFO='/bin/sh /machine/netcdf/n4_new6/missing --run makeinfo
          -I .' \
        texi2dvi -s --pdf --batch netcdf-c.texi
TEXINPUTS=".:$TEXINPUTS" \
        MAKEINFO='/bin/sh /machine/netcdf/n4_new6/missing --run makeinfo
          -I .' \
        texi2dvi -s netcdf-c.texi
mkdir: cannot create directory
          `/machine/netcdf/n4_new6/man4/netcdf-install.t2d/tex_help':
          File exists
/usr/bin/texi2dvi: cannot create directory:
          /machine/netcdf/n4_new6/man4/netcdf-install.t2d/tex_help
make[1]: *** [netcdf-install.pdf] Error 1
make[1]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
/usr/bin/texi2dvi: pdfetex exited with bad status, quitting.
make[1]: *** [netcdf.pdf] Error 1
/usr/bin/texi2dvi: line 733: cd:
          /machine/netcdf/n4_new6/man4/netcdf.t2d/dvi/bak: No such file
          or directory
make[1]: *** [netcdf.dvi] Error 1


Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Ed
-- 
Ed Hartnett  -- address@hidden