diff --git a/core/libs/ht.el b/core/libs/ht.el
index aaf785143..906882e64 100644
--- a/core/libs/ht.el
+++ b/core/libs/ht.el
@@ -114,9 +114,10 @@ for the final key, which may return any value."
   (declare (side-effect-free t))
   (inline-letevals (table keys)
     (inline-quote
-     (prog1 ,table
+     (progn
        (while ,keys
-         (setf ,table (ht-get table (pop ,keys))))))))
+         (setf ,table (ht-get ,table (pop ,keys))))
+       ,table))))
 
 (put 'ht-get* 'compiler-macro
      (lambda (_ table &rest keys)
diff --git a/core/libs/package-build.el b/core/libs/package-build.el
index df345b9d8..af5dfc229 100644
--- a/core/libs/package-build.el
+++ b/core/libs/package-build.el
@@ -414,8 +414,10 @@ is used instead."
                    "^;;[[:blank:]]*"     ; double semicolon prefix
                    "[[:blank:]\n]*\\'")  ; trailing new-lines
            "" commentary))))
-      (unless (= (char-before) ?\n)
+      (unless (or (bobp) (= (char-before) ?\n))
         (insert ?\n))
+      ;; We write the file even if it is empty, which is perhaps
+      ;; a questionable choice, but at least it's consistent.
       (let ((coding-system-for-write buffer-file-coding-system))
         (write-region nil nil
                       (expand-file-name (concat name "-readme.txt")
@@ -437,9 +439,13 @@ SOURCE-DIR and TARGET-DIR respectively."
                 (progn
                   (setq info (concat (file-name-sans-extension tmp) ".info"))
                   (unless (file-exists-p info)
+                    ;; If the info file is located in a subdirectory
+                    ;; and contains relative includes, then it is
+                    ;; necessary to run makeinfo in the subdirectory.
                     (with-demoted-errors "Error: %S"
                       (package-build--run-process
-                       source-dir nil "makeinfo" src "-o" info))
+                       (file-name-directory src) nil
+                       "makeinfo" src "-o" info))
                     (package-build--message "Created %s" info)))
               (delete-file tmp)))
           (with-demoted-errors "Error: %S"