Something is really broken out there.
$ cd /
$ ~/xemacs/src/xemacs -nw -q
Cannot open load file: /xemacs/lisp/auto-autoloads
(bails out)
$ /home/kkm/xemacs/src/xemacs -nw -q
(starts)
$ cd ~/xemacs
$ ~/xemacs/src/xemacs -nw -q
Cannot open load file: /xemacs/lisp/auto-autoloads
(bails out)
$ src/xemacs -nw -q
(starts)
Big K