Index: buildsys.mk.in
==================================================================
--- buildsys.mk.in
+++ buildsys.mk.in
@@ -396,11 +396,11 @@
 		${DIR_ENTER}; \
 		${MAKE} ${MFLAGS} clean || exit 1; \
 		${DIR_LEAVE}; \
 	done
 	
-	for i in ${OBJS} ${CLEAN} ${CLEAN_LIB} .deps ${DEPS}; do \
+	for i in ${OBJS} ${CLEAN} ${CLEAN_LIB} ${DEPS}; do \
 		if test -f $$i -o -d $$i; then \
 			if rm -fr $$i; then \
 				${DELETE_OK}; \
 			else \
 				${DELETE_FAILED}; \

Index: m4/buildsys.m4
==================================================================
--- m4/buildsys.m4
+++ m4/buildsys.m4
@@ -132,10 +132,12 @@
 	AC_SUBST(UNINSTALL_LIB)
 	AC_SUBST(CLEAN_LIB)
 ])
 
 AC_DEFUN([BUILDSYS_TOUCH_DEPS], [
-	${as_echo:="echo"} "${as_me:="configure"}: Touching .deps files"
+	${as_echo:="echo"} "${as_me:="configure"}: touching .deps files"
 	for i in $(find . -name Makefile); do
-		touch -t 0001010000 $(dirname $i)/.deps
+		DEPSFILE="$(dirname $i)/.deps"
+		test -f "$DEPSFILE" && rm "$DEPSFILE"
+		touch -t 0001010000 "$DEPSFILE"
 	done
 ])