Why are */Makefile.in generated with --foreign?

[H. J. Lu]

There are

bash-3.1$ grep AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS */Makefile.am
bfd/Makefile.am:AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = 1.9 cygnus
binutils/Makefile.am:AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = cygnus dejagnu
gas/Makefile.am:AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = 1.8 cygnus dejagnu
gprof/Makefile.am:AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = cygnus
ld/Makefile.am:AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = cygnus dejagnu
opcodes/Makefile.am:AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = 1.9 cygnus

But all */Makefile.in are generated with --foreign:

bash-3.1$ grep -l "\--foreign" */Makefile.in
bfd/Makefile.in
binutils/Makefile.in
gas/Makefile.in
gprof/Makefile.in
ld/Makefile.in
opcodes/Makefile.in

Is that intentional?


H.J.