-## along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
-## Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
-## 02111-1307, USA.
-$(srcdir)/@VTEXI@: @MAINTAINER_MODE_TRUE@$(srcdir)/stamp-@VTI@
- @:
-
-## Depend on configure.in so that version number updates cause a
-## rebuild.
-$(srcdir)/stamp-@VTI@: @TEXI@ $(top_srcdir)/configure.in
- @(set `$(SHELL) @MDDIR@mdate-sh $(srcdir)/@TEXI@`; \
+## along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+DIST_COMMON += %VTEXI% %STAMPVTI%
+
+## Don't give this rule a command (even '@:').
+## %STAMPVTI% is always newer than %VTEXI%, so this rule is always
+## triggered. If you equip this rule with a command, GNU make will
+## assume %VTEXI% has been rebuild in the current directory and
+## discard any %VTEXI% file found in a VPATH search.
+%VTEXI%: %MAINTAINER-MODE% %STAMPVTI%
+
+## Depend on configure so that version number updates cause a rebuild.
+## (Not configure.ac, because not all setups define the version number
+## in this file.)
+%STAMPVTI%: %TEXI% $(top_srcdir)/configure
+## It is wrong to have %STAMPVTI% dependent on %DIRSTAMP%, because
+## %STAMPVTI% is distributed and %DIRSTAMP% isn't: a distributed file
+## should never be dependent upon a non-distributed built file.
+## Therefore we ensure that %DIRSTAMP% exists in the rule.
+?DIRSTAMP? @test -f %DIRSTAMP% || $(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) %DIRSTAMP%
+ @(dir=.; test -f ./%TEXI% || dir=$(srcdir); \
+ set `$(SHELL) %MDDIR%mdate-sh $$dir/%TEXI%`; \