`configure' slightly broken in texinfo tree

[Jeffrey A Law]

  In message < 13844.7613.807633.128984@loki.wkstn.nix >you write:
  > 
  > I'm sure everyone knows this already, but in 1.1b-release and in the
  > latest CVS sources as of about 2000 GMT, `configure' in the texinfo
  > tree is somewhat broken.
Not exactly.  You're the first to report this problem.

What exactly is wrong?  A patch without a problem description is generally
not going to be installed unless it is obviously correct.

jeff