Could someone else try compiling and installing the latest 21.5.b16 cvs of XEmacs with the following environment variable set VERSION_CONTROL=numbered to see whether the install fails? It appears as though the code run by make install (but not by make all) causes XEmacs to create versions of the files /Users/royar/src/xemacs/lisp/auto-autoloads.el.~1~ /Users/royar/src/xemacs/lisp/auto-autoloads.el.~2~ /Users/royar/src/xemacs/lisp/auto-autoloads.el.~3~ /Users/royar/src/xemacs/lisp/auto-autoloads.el.~4~ /Users/royar/src/xemacs/lisp/finder-inf.el.~1~ /Users/royar/src/xemacs/lisp/finder-inf.el.~2~ /Users/royar/src/xemacs/lisp/finder-inf.el.~3~ /Users/royar/src/xemacs/lisp/finder-inf.el.~4~ /Users/royar/src/xemacs/lisp/mule/auto-autoloads.el.~1~ /Users/royar/src/xemacs/lisp/mule/auto-autoloads.el.~2~ in the src directory. When during the fourth iteration of the install process, XEmacs sees ~4~, it stops to ask (in batch mode) whether to delete old backups. Any answer leads to an assertion failure. I modified the install routine in my auto compile/install script to unset the environment variable, after first deleting all the backups from the most recent install. That fixed the problem. But I think that it should not be happening at all, or should be documented. Here is the routine from my script, that prevents the error: Install () { local SDIR=${PWD} local SVC=${VERSION_CONTROL} # if set the install script gets wacked out if [ ${SVC} ] ; then unset VERSION_CONTROL fi cd ${ParentCompile}/${XEmacsDir} make install if [ ${SVC} ] ; then set VERSION_CONTROL=${SVC} fi cd ${SDIR} return }