What's up with this behavior?  It began a couple of weeks ago.  I have the load-path set immediately in my init.el followed by require org.

Versions are:
'make clean' followed by 'make autoloads' works fine:

dortmann@ddo-linux:git-org-mode$ make autoloads
make -C lisp autoloads
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/lisp'
rm -f org-version.el org-loaddefs.el org-version.elc org-loaddefs.elc org-install.elc
org-version: 9.5.5 (release_9.5.5-785-g86c463)
Loading /home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/lisp/org-compat.el (source)...
Loading /home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/mk/org-fixup.el (source)...
Package autoload is deprecated
org-loaddefs: 9.5.5 (release_9.5.5-785-g86c463)
Loading /home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/lisp/org-compat.el (source)...
Loading /home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/mk/org-fixup.el (source)...
Package autoload is deprecated
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/lisp'
dortmann@ddo-linux:git-org-mode$

==>> But 'make clean' and then 'make' followed by 'make autoloads' fails.  I could not get around it by manipulating load-path further:

dortmann@ddo-linux:git-org-mode$ make autoloads
make -C lisp autoloads
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/lisp'
rm -f org-version.el org-loaddefs.el org-version.elc org-loaddefs.elc org-install.elc
org-version: 9.5.5 (release_9.5.5-785-g86c463)
Loading /home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/lisp/org-compat.el (source)...
Warning (emacs): Org version mismatch.  Make sure that correct ‘load-path’ is set early in init.el
This warning usually appears when a built-in Org version is loaded
prior to the more recent Org version.

Version mismatch is commonly encountered in the following situations:
1. Emacs is loaded using literate Org config and more recent Org
   version is loaded inside the file loaded by ‘org-babel-load-file’.
   ‘org-babel-load-file’ triggers the built-in Org version clashing
   the newer Org version attempted to be loaded later.

   It is recommended to move the Org loading code before the
   ‘org-babel-load-file’ call.

2. New Org version is loaded manually by setting ‘load-path’, but some
   other package depending on Org is loaded before the ‘load-path’ is
   configured.
   This "other package" is triggering built-in Org version, again
   causing the version mismatch.

   It is recommended to set ‘load-path’ as early in the config as
   possible.

3. New Org version is loaded using straight.el package manager and
   other package depending on Org is loaded before straight triggers
   loading of the newer Org version.

   It is recommended to put
    (straight-use-package ’org)
   early in the config.  Ideally, right after the straight.el
   bootstrap.  Moving ‘use-package’ :straight declaration may not be
   sufficient if the corresponding ‘use-package’ statement is
   deferring the loading.

Error: error ("Org version mismatch.  Make sure that correct ‘load-path’ is set early in init.el")
  mapbacktrace(#f(compiled-function (evald func args flags) #<bytecode 0xa578661cbaef144>))
  debug-early-backtrace()
  debug-early(error (error "Org version mismatch.  Make sure that correct ‘load-path’ is set early in init.el"))
  signal(error ("Org version mismatch.  Make sure that correct ‘load-path’ is set early in init.el"))
  error("Org version mismatch.  Make sure that correct `load-path' is set early in init.el")
  byte-code("\300 \301\232\204\17\0\302\303!\210\304\305!\210\300\207" [org-git-version "release_9.5.5-785-g86c463" warn "Org version mismatch.  Make sure that correct `load-path' is set early in init.el\nThis warning usually appears when a built-in Org version is loaded\nprior to the more recent Org version.\n\nVersion mismatch is commonly encountered in the following situations:\n1. Emacs is loaded using literate Org config and more recent Org\n   version is loaded inside the file loaded by `org-babel-load-file'.\n   `org-babel-load-file' triggers the built-in Org version clashing\n   the newer Org version attempted to be loaded later.\n\n   It is recommended to move the Org loading code before the\n   `org-babel-load-file' call.\n\n2. New Org version is loaded manually by setting `load-path', but some\n   other package depending on Org is loaded before the `load-path' is\n   configured.\n   This \"other package\" is triggering built-in Org version, again\n   causing the version mismatch.\n\n   It is recommended to set `load-path' as early in the config as\n   possible.\n\n3. New Org version is loaded using straight.el package manager and\n   other package depending on Org is loaded before straight triggers\n   loading of the newer Org version.\n\n   It is recommended to put\n    (straight-use-package 'org)\n   early in the config.  Ideally, right after the straight.el\n   bootstrap.  Moving `use-package' :straight declaration may not be\n   sufficient if the corresponding `use-package' statement is\n   deferring the loading." error "Org version mismatch.  Make sure that correct `load-path' is set early in init.el"] 2)
  require(org-macs)
  eval-buffer(#<buffer  *load*> nil "/home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/lisp/org-compat.el" nil t)
  load-with-code-conversion("/home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/lisp/org-compat.el" "/home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/lisp/org-compat.el" nil nil)
  load("org-compat.el")
  eval((load "org-compat.el") t)
  command-line-1(("--eval" "(setq vc-handled-backends nil org-startup-folded nil org-element-cache-persistent nil)" "--eval" "(add-to-list 'load-path \".\")" "--eval" "(load \"org-compat.el\")" "--eval" "(load \"../mk/org-fixup.el\")" "--eval" "(org-make-org-version \"9.5.5\" \"release_9.5.5-785-g86c463\")"))
  command-line()
  normal-top-level()
Org version mismatch.  Make sure that correct ‘load-path’ is set early in init.el
make[1]: *** [Makefile:72: org-version.el] Error 255
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/dortmann/src/git-org-mode/lisp'
make: *** [mk/targets.mk:133: autoloads] Error 2
dortmann@ddo-linux:git-org-mode$