`make release_tests` fails after ./configure in fresh Erlang installation - linux

Question

I cloned, make, ./configure then make release_tests
There is a ./make/target.mk in the root otp directory but not in ./lib/common_test/test_server
root#marble-pyramid-1:~/download/otp_src_20.0# make release_tests
if test -f lib/common_test/test_server/Makefile; then \
(cd lib/common_test/test_server; make TESTROOT="/root/download/otp_src_20.0/release/tests" \
PATH=/root/download/otp_src_20.0/bin/:/root/download/otp_src_20.0/bootstrap/bin:"${PATH}" release_tests) || exit $?; \
fi
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/download/otp_src_20.0/lib/common_test/test_server
Makefile:21: /make/target.mk: No such file or directory
Makefile:26: /make/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/otp.mk: No such file or directory
Makefile:85: /make/otp_release_targets.mk: No such file or directory
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `/make/otp_release_targets.mk'. Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/download/otp_src_20.0/lib/common_test/test_server'
make: *** [lib/common_test/test_server] Error 2
root#marble-pyramid-1:~/download/otp_src_20.0# ls lib/common_test/test_server/
config.guess configure.in install-sh ts_benchmark.erl ts_erl_config.erl ts_install.erl ts_run.erl
config.sub conf_vars.in Makefile ts.config ts.hrl ts_lib.erl ts.unix.config
configure cross.cover ts_autoconf_win32.erl ts.erl ts_install_cth.erl ts_make.erl ts.win32.config
root#marble-pyramid-1:~/download/otp_src_20.0# ls lib/common_test/test_server/make
ls: cannot access lib/common_test/test_server/make: No such file or directory
EDIT:
root#marble-pyramid-1:~/download/otp_src_20.0# ERL_TOP=$HOME/download/otp_src_20.0
root#marble-pyramid-1:~/download/otp_src_20.0# echo $ERL_TOP
/root/download/otp_src_20.0
root#marble-pyramid-1:~/download/otp_src_20.0# make release_test
make: *** No rule to make target `release_test'. Stop.
root#marble-pyramid-1:~/download/otp_src_20.0# make release_tests
if test -f lib/common_test/test_server/Makefile; then \
(cd lib/common_test/test_server; make TESTROOT="/root/download/otp_src_20.0/release/tests" \
PATH=/root/download/otp_src_20.0/bin/:/root/download/otp_src_20.0/bootstrap/bin:"${PATH}" release_tests) || exit $?; \
fi
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/download/otp_src_20.0/lib/common_test/test_server'
Makefile:21: /make/target.mk: No such file or directory
Makefile:26: /make/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/otp.mk: No such file or directory
Makefile:85: /make/otp_release_targets.mk: No such file or directory
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `/make/otp_release_targets.mk'. Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/download/otp_src_20.0/lib/common_test/test_server'
make: *** [lib/common_test/test_server] Error 2
root#marble-pyramid-1:~/download/otp_src_20.0#

Answer 1

The question says the OP ran make, then ./configure, then make release_tests, but this is incorrect; one always runs configure before make.
Building the release_tests target succeeded using the following steps in bash on a Mac running macOS Sierra 10.12.6:
$ curl -LO http://erlang.org/download/otp_src_20.0.tar.gz
$ tar xf otp_src_20.0.tar.gz
$ cd otp_src_20.0
$ export ERL_TOP=$PWD
$ ./configure
$ make -j16
$ make release_test
I'm sure this would work on Linux or any other UNIX variant as well.