Reference: <http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=7648>
The bug has finally been fixed by Akim Demaille (kudos to him); the fix will appear in the next maintenance version of Automake (1.12.3). See the thread: <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake-patches/2012-07/msg00088.html> and in particular the messages: <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake-patches/2012-07/msg00123.html> <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake-patches/2012-07/msg00139.html> I will proceed to close this bug report once those patches are actually merged into maint. Regards, Stefano