There as a fault in /src/Makefile.in.
The problem is:
bindir=$(DESTDIR)@bindir@
but then later on have
$(INSTALL) -c nvclock $(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/nvclock
$(INSTALL) -c smartdimmer $(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/smartdimmer
I think you see the problem when this gets expanded and you have DESTDIR set?