diff --git a/Makefile.pre.in b/Makefile.pre.in
index 51cf2fdb009b7b..f770e45e1e23d9 100644
--- a/Makefile.pre.in
+++ b/Makefile.pre.in
@@ -1618,10 +1618,7 @@ recheck:
 # Regenerate configure and pyconfig.h.in
 .PHONY: autoconf
 autoconf:
-	# Regenerate the configure script from configure.ac using autoconf
-	(cd $(srcdir); autoconf -Wall)
-	# Regenerate pyconfig.h.in from configure.ac using autoheader
-	(cd $(srcdir); autoheader -Wall)
+	(cd "$(srcdir)" && autoreconf --force --verbose --install -Wall)
 
 # Create a tags file for vi
 tags::
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2018-05-13-17-50-33.bpo-33485.TXEJ9k.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2018-05-13-17-50-33.bpo-33485.TXEJ9k.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..5db25f25e2897b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2018-05-13-17-50-33.bpo-33485.TXEJ9k.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+'autoconf' make target was changed to be more complete