diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 57eeb940b9..aa67ab1ef3 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
+
+make maintainer-clean >/dev/null 2>/dev/null
+
 if [ -x "`which autoreconf 2>/dev/null`" ] ; then
    exec autoreconf -ivf
 fi