How do I suppress "helpful" blank lines generated by makeinfo?

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, Texinfo!

I've got makeinfo 4.7.  I want to produce Info output looking like this:

#########################################################################
*Description of first sublist:
    - first single line item
    - second single line item
    .....
#########################################################################

My Texinfo source (first attempt) uses @itemize and looks like this:

#########################################################################
@table @bullet
@item Description of following list:
@itemize @minus
@item first single line item
@item second single line item
.....
@end itemize
@end table
#########################################################################

.  Here, makeinfo "helpfully" inserts a blank line between the two
@items.

My Texinfo source (second attempt) uses @table, so as to be able to use
@itemx:

#########################################################################
@table @bullet
@item Description of following list:
@table @minus
@item first single line item
@itemx second single line item
.....
@end table
@end table
#########################################################################

Here makeinfo "helpfully" inserts a blank line before the "first single
line item".

Help!  makeinfo is being far too "helpful" here.  Each single line item
in the list is short enough that any additional blank lines just make it
look diffuse and fragmented.

I have tried telling makeinfo that I don't "helpful" blank lines by
inserting the line

    @sp 0

, but this merely generates an error saying that 0 isn't a valid argument
for @sp.

Is there any way I can get what I want with the @list/@table type
commands?  Do I need a later (>4.7) version of Texinfo?  I think I could
probably do it with explicit line break and indentation commands instead
of @list/@table, but I'd really rather not have to.

Thanks in advance for any help!

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).