`autogen.sh` failure

Created by: wiene

Trying to run

$ ./autogen.sh

with autoconf 2.71 (tested on Debian unstable) I get the following error

[...]
+ autoreconf --force --install -Wall -Werror
configure.ac:103: warning: $as_echo is obsolete; use AS_ECHO(["message"]) instead
lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4:692: _AS_IF_ELSE is expanded from...
lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4:699: AS_IF is expanded from...
./lib/autoconf/general.m4:2249: AC_CACHE_VAL is expanded from...
./lib/autoconf/general.m4:2270: AC_CACHE_CHECK is expanded from...
misc/m4/ax_pthread.m4:88: AX_PTHREAD is expanded from...
configure.ac:103: the top level
autoreconf: error: /usr/bin/autoconf failed with exit status: 1

Doing the same on Debian 11 (using autoconf 2.69) works.