https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/issues/19054

--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -532,10 +532,11 @@
 		AC_MSG_WARN([[******************************************************************]])
 	])
 
+AUTOGEN_BIN="autogen --writable"
 AS_IF([test "x$ac_cv_prog_HAVE_AUTOGEN" = "xno"], [
+		AUTOGEN_BIN="touch $@"
-		AC_MSG_WARN([[Touching files in directory tests/.]])
-		touch tests/*.c tests/*.h
 	])
+AC_SUBST(AUTOGEN_BIN)
 
 dnl ====================================================================================
 dnl  Settings for the HTML documentation.
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@
 # from calling autogen in tarball releases.
 .def.c:
 	$(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) $<
-	cd $(top_srcdir)/$(@D) && autogen --writable $(<F)
+	cd $(top_srcdir)/$(@D) && @AUTOGEN_BIN@ $(<F)
 
 # recommended Automake way for multi-output targets:
 # https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/html_node/Multiple-Outputs.html