diff --git a/tools/automake/patches/999-clean-am.patch b/tools/automake/patches/999-clean-am.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..87a0d6f3f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/automake/patches/999-clean-am.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+--- a/lib/am/clean.am
++++ b/lib/am/clean.am
+@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ distclean-generic:
+ ## If you change distclean here, you probably also want to change
+ ## maintainer-clean below.
+ distclean:
+-	-rm -f %MAKEFILE%
++	-touch %MAKEFILE%
+ 
+ maintainer-clean-am: maintainer-clean-generic distclean-am
+ maintainer-clean-generic:
+@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ maintainer-clean-generic:
+ 
+ ## See comment for distclean.
+ maintainer-clean:
+-	-rm -f %MAKEFILE%
++	-touch %MAKEFILE%
+ 
+ .PHONY: clean mostlyclean distclean maintainer-clean \
+ clean-generic mostlyclean-generic distclean-generic maintainer-clean-generic