diff --git a/bootstrap.sh b/bootstrap.sh
index bbf9b77d..d07f5f1c 100755
--- a/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/bootstrap.sh
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ rm -f Makefile Makefile.in aclocal.m4
 rm -rf autom4te.cache
 # m4/ contains only stuff from the build system ... the m4 files we have
 # written and maintain are in m4-safe
-rm -f m4/* 
+rm -rf m4
+mkdir m4
 cp m4-safe/* m4/
 rm -f config.* configure depcomp
 rm -f install-sh intltool-* libtool ltmain.sh missing mkinstalldirs