Infinite loop on make dist

[Stepan Kasal]

Hello,
  when I unpack autoconf-2.62.tar.lzma and do

cd autoconf-2.62
mkdir build
cd build
../configure && make dist

I get into an infinite loop:

INFO: running autoreconf for new version string: UNKNOWN
autoreconf: Entering directory `.'
autoreconf: configure.ac: not using Gettext
autoreconf: running: aclocal -I m4
autoreconf: configure.ac: tracing
autoreconf: configure.ac: not using Libtool
autoreconf: running: /usr/local/bin/autoconf
autoreconf: configure.ac: not using Autoheader
autoreconf: running: automake --add-missing --copy --no-force
Makefile.am: installing `./INSTALL'
autoreconf: Leaving directory `.'
/bin/sh ./config.status --recheck
running CONFIG_SHELL=/bin/sh /bin/sh ../configure --no-create
--no-recursion
[configure output]
INFO: running autoreconf for new version string: UNKNOWN
... [loop]

In connection with this, I'd like to ask why is GNUmakefile
distributed?

I always thought the special targets provided there are of any use
only for developers.  For the purpose of building and installing
utoconf, Gnu make should be treated as any other make implementation.

Have a nice day,
Stepan