diff --git a/nbdkit.spec b/nbdkit.spec
index f932922..0f28ea9 100644
--- a/nbdkit.spec
+++ b/nbdkit.spec
@@ -43,7 +43,10 @@ Patch4:        0004-perl-Make-example4-and-tar-plugins-conditional-on-en.patch
 Patch5:        0005-plugins-nbd-Free-h-handle-along-error-paths.patch
 Patch6:        0006-crypto-Fix-error-path-when-sending-to-gnutls-socket.patch
 Patch7:        0007-src-main-Add-missing-break-affecting-t-threads-param.patch
+%global patches_touch_autotools 1
+%if 0%{patches_touch_autotools}
 BuildRequires: autoconf, automake, libtool
+%endif
 
 %if 0%{?rhel} == 7
 # On RHEL 7, nothing in the virt stack is shipped on aarch64 and
@@ -391,8 +394,9 @@ tmphome="$(mktemp -d)"
 gpgv2 --homedir "$tmphome" --keyring %{SOURCE2} %{SOURCE1} %{SOURCE0}
 %endif
 %autosetup -p1
-# Temporarily while patch1 touches autotools files.
+%if 0%{patches_touch_autotools}
 autoreconf -i
+%endif
 
 %ifnarch %{complete_test_arches}
 # Simplify the test suite so it doesn't require qemu.