Why doesn't libtoolize make libtool?

[Bruce Korb]

There is no error message and no output and no file.
Works fine for one project, but not another.
the AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR(config) works fine in one project,
but leaves the ltmain.sh, config.guess and config.sub
in the wrong directories for another.  I don't remember
making any changes that would cause it to fail and it
is certainly not anything obvious to me.  It just
fails silently.  Does someone remember a hint?  Thanks.