diff --git a/buildconf b/buildconf
index 4d34215221..4e4c17e999 100755
--- a/buildconf
+++ b/buildconf
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 echo "*** Do not use buildconf. Instead, just use: autoreconf -fi" >&2
-${AUTORECONF:-autoreconf} -fi "${@}"
+exec ${AUTORECONF:-autoreconf} -fi "${@}"