>> For starters, the output is wrong about the command issued.
> This part is on purpose.
Why tell the user the wrong thing?
- -L $(dir $@) -f batch-byte-compile $<
+ $(patsubst %, -L %, $(filter-out %/cl-lib, $(pkgs))) \
+ -f batch-byte-compile $<
This allowed make to run to completion.
Using a sufficiently new Emacs executable helped too.