cat /dev/null $(filter-out '$(TARBALL_DIR)/config-Cactus.files', $?) && \
where "cat" might be called without any arguments, and it the waits forever. The solution is to change the line to
cat /dev/null $(filter-out '$(TARBALL_DIR)/config-Cactus.files', $?) && \
I'll file a proper bug report later, but I hope this correction can go into the release.