If I modify the configuration script to enable debug mode [1] and run the script with a relative build directory:

mkdir build builddir=build ./configure ninja TextMate

The build fails with an assertion:

2021-11-06 09:34:58.256923+0100 bl[34313:190611] ------------------------------------------------------------ ASSERTION FAILURE: b[0] == '/' ‘build/debug/_CreateBundlesArchive/Applications/TextMate/resources/Managed/Bundles/Apache.tmbundle’ - ‘build/debug/_CreateBundlesArchive/Applications/TextMate/resources/Managed’ ------------------------------------------------------------ path::relative_to(std::__1::basic_string<char, std::__1::char_traits<char>, std::__1::allocator<char> > const&, std::__1::basic_string<char, std::__1::char_traits<char>, std::__1::allocator<char> > const&) (in bl) (path.cc:0) bundles_db::save_index(std::__1::vector<std::__1::shared_ptr<bundles_db::bundle_t>, std::__1::allocator<std::__1::shared_ptr<bundles_db::bundle_t> > > const&, std::__1::basic_string<char, std::__1::char_traits<char>, std::__1::allocator<char> > const&) (in bl) (updater.cc:420) __main_block_invoke.30 (in bl) (bl.cc:269) __wrap_dispatch_async_block_invoke (in libclang_rt.asan_osx_dynamic.dylib) + 203 _dispatch_call_block_and_release (in libdispatch.dylib) + 12 _dispatch_client_callout (in libdispatch.dylib) + 8 _dispatch_lane_serial_drain (in libdispatch.dylib) + 606 _dispatch_lane_invoke (in libdispatch.dylib) + 417 _dispatch_queue_override_invoke (in libdispatch.dylib) + 425 _dispatch_root_queue_drain (in libdispatch.dylib) + 326 _dispatch_worker_thread2 (in libdispatch.dylib) + 92 _pthread_wqthread (in libsystem_pthread.dylib) + 244 start_wqthread (in libsystem_pthread.dylib) + 15 Process 34313 exited with status = 1 (0x00000001) (lldb) q

I release mode the build completes, I assume because assertions are disabled. If I run the configuration script in debug mode with a full build path the build completes as well:

builddir=$(pwd)/build ./configure

[1] https://github.com/textmate/textmate/blob/346b52b108b387462d4b3def481fb74983...