diff --git a/bin/autoconf.in b/bin/autoconf.in
index 060a9a04..aed395ea 100644
--- a/bin/autoconf.in
+++ b/bin/autoconf.in
@@ -193,7 +193,8 @@ print {*STDERR} $me,
   "\n"
   if $verbose;
 
-exec {$autom4te_command[0]} @autom4te_command;
+exec {$autom4te_command[0]} @autom4te_command
+  or fatal "$autom4te_command[0]: $!\n";
 
 ### Setup "GNU" style for perl-mode and cperl-mode.
 ## Local Variables:
diff --git a/bin/autoheader.in b/bin/autoheader.in
index 4afa5f13..8c08a66d 100644
--- a/bin/autoheader.in
+++ b/bin/autoheader.in
@@ -314,6 +314,7 @@ $out->close;
 }
 
 update_file ("$tmp/config.hin", "$config_h_in", $force);
+exit 0;
 
 ### Setup "GNU" style for perl-mode and cperl-mode.
 ## Local Variables:
diff --git a/bin/ifnames.in b/bin/ifnames.in
index 2626b167..dd06410d 100644
--- a/bin/ifnames.in
+++ b/bin/ifnames.in
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ foreach (sort keys %occurrence)
   {
     print "$_ ", join (' ', sort keys %{$occurrence{$_}}), "\n";
   }
+exit 0;
 
 ### Setup "GNU" style for perl-mode and cperl-mode.
 ## Local Variables:
diff --git a/lib/Autom4te/FileUtils.pm b/lib/Autom4te/FileUtils.pm
index 06f87c31..b7cc99ac 100644
--- a/lib/Autom4te/FileUtils.pm
+++ b/lib/Autom4te/FileUtils.pm
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ sub update_file ($$;$)
       msg 'note', "'$to' is unchanged";
       unlink ($from)
         or fatal "cannot remove $from: $!";
-      return
+      return;
     }
 
   if (-f "$to")
diff --git a/tests/local.at b/tests/local.at
index a5de5e14..0e278019 100644
--- a/tests/local.at
+++ b/tests/local.at
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ m4_define([AT_CHECK_SHELL_SYNTAX],
 AT_CHECK(["$SHELL_N" -n $1], [], [], [ignore])])
 
 m4_define([AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX],
-[AT_CHECK([autom4te_perllibdir=$abs_top_srcdir/lib $PERL -c "$abs_top_builddir"/bin/$1],
+[AT_CHECK([autom4te_perllibdir=$abs_top_srcdir/lib $PERL -c "$abs_top_builddir/$1"],
           0, [], [ignore])])
 
 ## ------------------ ##
diff --git a/tests/local.mk b/tests/local.mk
index c100f0c1..ae399c4d 100644
--- a/tests/local.mk
+++ b/tests/local.mk
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST += \
   tests/local.at \
   tests/mktests.pl \
   tests/atlocal.in \
-  tests/wrapper.as \
+  tests/wrapper.in \
   tests/statesave.m4
 
 # Running the uninstalled scripts.  Build them upon 'all', for the manpages.
@@ -60,13 +60,10 @@ wrappers = \
 
 CLEANFILES += \
   tests/package.m4 \
-  tests/wrapper.in \
   $(wrappers)
 
-tests/wrapper.in: $(srcdir)/tests/wrapper.as $(m4sh_m4f_dependencies)
-	$(MY_AUTOM4TE) --language=M4sh $(srcdir)/tests/wrapper.as -o $@
-
 edit_wrapper = sed \
+	-e 's|@PERL[@]|$(PERL)|g' \
 	-e 's|@wrap_program[@]|$(@F)|g' \
 	-e 's|@abs_top_srcdir[@]|$(abs_top_srcdir)|g' \
 	-e 's|@abs_top_builddir[@]|$(abs_top_builddir)|g' \
@@ -75,7 +72,7 @@ edit_wrapper = sed \
 $(wrappers): tests/wrapper.in
 	rm -f $@ $@.tmp
 	input=tests/wrapper.in \
-	  && $(edit_wrapper) tests/wrapper.in >$@.tmp
+	  && $(edit_wrapper) $(srcdir)/tests/wrapper.in >$@.tmp
 	chmod +x $@.tmp
 	chmod a-w $@.tmp
 	mv -f $@.tmp $@
diff --git a/tests/tools.at b/tests/tools.at
index 5dcf5f29..96381f74 100644
--- a/tests/tools.at
+++ b/tests/tools.at
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ AT_CHECK([test "$SHELL_N" != none || exit 77])
 # Specify the absolute name of the tool, as some shells don't honor PATH when
 # running 'sh PROG'.
 
-AT_CHECK_SHELL_SYNTAX(["$abs_top_builddir/tests/autoconf"])
 AT_CHECK_SHELL_SYNTAX(["$abs_top_builddir/tests/testsuite"])
 
 # These are not built, they are in the src tree.
@@ -68,13 +67,21 @@ AT_CLEANUP
 
 AT_SETUP([Syntax of the Perl scripts])
 
-AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([autoconf])
-AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([autoheader])
-AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([autom4te])
-AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([autoreconf])
-AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([autoscan])
-AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([autoupdate])
-AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([ifnames])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([bin/autoconf])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([bin/autoheader])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([bin/autom4te])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([bin/autoreconf])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([bin/autoscan])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([bin/autoupdate])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([bin/ifnames])
+
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([tests/autoconf])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([tests/autoheader])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([tests/autom4te])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([tests/autoreconf])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([tests/autoscan])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([tests/autoupdate])
+AT_CHECK_PERL_SYNTAX([tests/ifnames])
 
 AT_CLEANUP
 
diff --git a/tests/wrapper.as b/tests/wrapper.as
deleted file mode 100644
index 4ffbc436..00000000
--- a/tests/wrapper.as
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-AS_INIT[]dnl                                            -*- shell-script -*-
-# wrapper.as -- running '@wrap_program@' as if it were installed.
-# @configure_input@
-# Copyright (C) 2003-2004, 2007, 2009-2017, 2020-2023 Free Software
-# Foundation, Inc.
-
-# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
-# (at your option) any later version.
-
-# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-# along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-testdir='@abs_top_builddir@/tests'
-PATH=$testdir$PATH_SEPARATOR$PATH
-AUTOCONF=autoconf
-AUTOHEADER=autoheader
-AUTOM4TE=autom4te
-AUTOM4TE_CFG='@abs_top_builddir@/lib/autom4te.cfg'
-autom4te_buildauxdir='@abs_top_srcdir@/build-aux'
-autom4te_perllibdir='@abs_top_srcdir@/lib'
-trailer_m4='@abs_top_srcdir@/lib/autoconf/trailer.m4'
-export AUTOCONF AUTOHEADER AUTOM4TE AUTOM4TE_CFG
-export autom4te_buildauxdir autom4te_perllibdir trailer_m4
-
-case '@wrap_program@' in
-  ifnames)
-     # Does not have lib files.
-     exec '@abs_top_builddir@/bin/@wrap_program@' ${1+"$@"}
-     ;;
-  *)
-     # We might need files from the build tree (frozen files), in
-     # addition of src files.
-     exec '@abs_top_builddir@/bin/@wrap_program@' \
-	  -B '@abs_top_builddir@'/lib \
-	  -B '@abs_top_srcdir@'/lib ${1+"$@"}
-esac
-exit 1
diff --git a/tests/wrapper.in b/tests/wrapper.in
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..068fe393
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/wrapper.in
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+#! @PERL@
+# wrapper.in -- running '@wrap_program@' as if it were installed.
+# @configure_input@
+# Copyright (C) 2003-2004, 2007, 2009-2017, 2020-2023 Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc.
+
+eval 'case $# in 0) exec @PERL@ -S "$0";; *) exec @PERL@ -S "$0" "$@";; esac'
+  if 0;
+
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+use 5.006;
+use strict;
+use warnings FATAL => 'all';
+
+my $src_libdir               = '@abs_top_srcdir@/lib';
+$ENV{'autom4te_perllibdir'}  = $src_libdir;
+$ENV{'autom4te_buildauxdir'} = '@abs_top_srcdir@/build-aux';
+$ENV{'trailer_m4'}           = '@abs_top_srcdir@/lib/autoconf/trailer.m4';
+
+my $wrapped_program          = '@wrap_program@';
+my $abs_wrapped_program      = '@abs_top_builddir@/bin/@wrap_program@';
+my $build_testdir            = '@abs_top_builddir@/tests';
+my $build_libdir             = '@abs_top_builddir@/lib';
+$ENV{'AUTOM4TE_CFG'}         = '@abs_top_builddir@/lib/autom4te.cfg';
+
+$ENV{'AUTOCONF'}             = 'autoconf';
+$ENV{'AUTOHEADER'}           = 'autoheader';
+$ENV{'AUTOM4TE'}             = 'autom4te';
+
+# Prepend $build_testdir to the path if it isn't there already.
+if (!defined $ENV{'PATH'} || $ENV{'PATH'} eq '')
+{
+  $ENV{'PATH'} = $build_testdir;
+}
+elsif ($ENV{'PATH'} !~ /^\Q$build_testdir\E[\\\/]?(?:[:;]|$)/)
+{
+  no warnings 'once';
+  require Config;
+  $ENV{'PATH'} = $build_testdir . $Config::Config{'path_sep'} . $ENV{'PATH'};
+}
+
+# All the wrapped programs *except* ifnames might need to load
+# .m4 and .m4f files from both the build and source libdirs.
+unshift (@ARGV, '-B', $build_libdir, '-B', $src_libdir)
+  if $wrapped_program ne 'ifnames';
+
+my $status = do $abs_wrapped_program;
+exit $status if defined $status;
+die "couldn't parse ${wrapped_program}: $@\n" if $@;
+die "error reading ${wrapped_program}: $!\n";
+
+### Setup "GNU" style for perl-mode and cperl-mode.
+## Local Variables:
+## mode: perl
+## perl-indent-level: 2
+## perl-continued-statement-offset: 2
+## perl-continued-brace-offset: 0
+## perl-brace-offset: 0
+## perl-brace-imaginary-offset: 0
+## perl-label-offset: -2
+## cperl-indent-level: 2
+## cperl-brace-offset: 0
+## cperl-continued-brace-offset: 0
+## cperl-label-offset: -2
+## cperl-extra-newline-before-brace: t
+## cperl-merge-trailing-else: nil
+## cperl-continued-statement-offset: 2
+## End: