Grumpy libtool does not copy files

[Jan Engelhardt]

Errors are worst when there is no message explaining why
it could not copy it.
(libtool 2.2.6)

# libtoolize --copy --force --verbose
libtoolize: putting auxiliary files in `.'.
libtoolize: can not copy `/usr/share/libtool/config/ltmain.sh' to `./'
libtoolize: Not copying `m4/argz.m4', libltdl not used.
libtoolize: putting macros in AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR, `m4'.
libtoolize: can not copy `/usr/share/aclocal/libtool.m4' to `m4/'
libtoolize: Not copying `m4/ltdl.m4', libltdl not used.
libtoolize: can not copy `/usr/share/aclocal/ltoptions.m4' to `m4/'
libtoolize: can not copy `/usr/share/aclocal/ltsugar.m4' to `m4/'
libtoolize: can not copy `/usr/share/aclocal/ltversion.m4' to `m4/'
libtoolize: can not copy `/usr/share/aclocal/lt~obsolete.m4' to `m4/'

The source location exists, is readable, m4 is writable, I don't know 
what's wrong.
Once I gotten around to remove all the 2>/dev/null things, it finally 
showed up.

/usr/bin/libtoolize: line 943: tar: command not found

*sigh* Why does it need it tar.. (or: why don't distros have a 
dependency on it, if it's _really_ needed) can't a cp do?