--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2008-12-07  Bruno Haible  <bruno@clisp.org>
+
+	* gnulib-tool (func_create_testdir): When building the tests
+	subdirectory, ignore the modules gnumakefile and maintainer-makefile.
+	Reported by Simon Josefsson.
+
 2008-12-07  Ralf Wildenhues  <Ralf.Wildenhues@gmx.de>
 
 	* doc/manywarnings.texi, doc/gnulib-intro.texi: Fix typos.

--- a/gnulib-tool
+++ b/gnulib-tool
@@ -3822,7 +3822,14 @@
      for module in $modules; do
        func_verify_module
        if test -n "$module"; then
-         func_get_autoconf_early_snippet "$module"
+         case $module in
+           gnumakefile | maintainer-makefile)
+             # These modules are meant to be used only in the top-level directory.
+             ;;
+           *)
+             func_get_autoconf_early_snippet "$module"
+             ;;
+         esac
        fi
      done \
        | sed -e '/^$/d;' -e 's/AC_REQUIRE(\[\([^()]*\)\])/\1/'
@@ -3857,8 +3864,15 @@
      for module in $modules; do
        func_verify_nontests_module
        if test -n "$module"; then
-         func_get_autoconf_snippet "$module" \
-           | sed -e "$sed_replace_build_aux"
+         case $module in
+           gnumakefile | maintainer-makefile)
+             # These modules are meant to be used only in the top-level directory.
+             ;;
+           *)
+             func_get_autoconf_snippet "$module" \
+               | sed -e "$sed_replace_build_aux"
+             ;;
+         esac
        fi
      done
      echo "gl_source_base='.'"