[FYI] Merge branch 'maint' into master

[Stefano Lattarini]

commit 3b83966e81cd038e79be4225225787d3766c54ec
Merge: 062aeb2 13dd512
Author: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattar...@gmail.com>
Date:   Fri Jun 22 18:55:01 2012 +0200

    Merge branch 'maint'

    * maint:
      tests: prefer using 'is_newest' over 'ls -t' hacks
      tests: implement is_newest as an auxiliary script, not shell function
      tests: fix some spurious failures in VPATH setup
      tests: work in VPATH setup again