diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 306db436c5..e92f83a71e 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -2,100 +2,91 @@
 #
 # Run this before configure
 #
-# This file blatantly ripped off from subversion.
-#
-# Note: this dependency on Perl is fine: only developers use autogen.sh
-#       and we can state that dev people need Perl on their machine
-
-rm -f autogen.err
 
-automake --version | perl -ne 'if (/\(GNU automake\) (([0-9]+).([0-9]+))/) {print; if ($2 < 1 || ($2 == 1 && $3 < 4)) {exit 1;}}'
-
-if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-    echo "Error: you need automake 1.4 or later.  Please upgrade."
+if [ ! -f "autogen.sh" ]; then
+    echo "$0: This script must be run in the top-level directory"
     exit 1
 fi
 
-if test ! -d `aclocal --print-ac-dir 2>> autogen.err`; then
-  echo "Bad aclocal (automake) installation"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-# Update the m4 macros
-autoreconf -fvi
+rm -f autogen.err
 
-# Produce aclocal.m4, so autoconf gets the automake macros it needs
-#
-case `uname` in
-    CYGWIN*)
-        include_dir='-I m4' # Needed for Cygwin only.
-        ;;
-    Darwin)
-        [ "$LIBTOOLIZE" = "" ] && LIBTOOLIZE=glibtoolize
-        ;;
-esac
+run_configure=true
+while [ -n "$1" ]
+do
+    case "$1" in
+        --help|-help|-h)
+            echo "Usage: $0 [--no-configure] [--clean]"
+            exit 0
+            ;;
+        --no-configure)
+            run_configure=false
+            shift
+            ;;
+        --clean)
+            # Start from a clean state.
+            rm -rf config.cache autom4te*.cache
+            shift
+            ;;
+        *)
+            break 2
+    esac
+done
 
-    ${LIBTOOLIZE:=libtoolize} --force --copy || {
-    echo "error: libtoolize failed"
+# For version x.y>1.4, x should not be 0, and y should be [4-9] or more than one digit.
+automake --version >/dev/null &&
+   automake --version | test "`sed -En '/^automake \(GNU automake\) [^0]\.([4-9]|[1-9][0-9])/p'`"
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+    echo "$0: Error: you need automake 1.4 or later.  Please upgrade."
     exit 1
-}
-
-echo "Creating aclocal.m4: aclocal $include_dir $ACLOCAL_FLAGS"
-
-aclocal $include_dir $ACLOCAL_FLAGS 2>> autogen.err
-
-# Produce all the `GNUmakefile.in's and create neat missing things
-# like `install-sh', etc.
-#
-echo "automake --add-missing --copy --foreign"
-
-automake --add-missing --copy --foreign 2>> autogen.err || {
-    echo ""
-    echo "* * * warning: possible errors while running automake - check autogen.err"
-    echo ""
-}
+fi
 
 # If there's a config.cache file, we may need to delete it.
 # If we have an existing configure script, save a copy for comparison.
+# (Based on Subversion's autogen.sh, see also the deletion code below.)
+OLD_CONFIGURE="${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/configure.$$.tmp"
 if [ -f config.cache ] && [ -f configure ]; then
-  cp configure configure.$$.tmp
+  cp configure "$OLD_CONFIGURE"
 fi
 
-# Produce ./configure
-#
-echo "Creating configure..."
+echo "$0: Creating 'configure'..."
 
-autoconf 2>> autogen.err || {
+# Regenerate configuration scripts with the latest autotools updates.
+autoreconf -fvi 2>autogen.err
+status=$?
+if [ $status -ne 0 ]; then
     echo ""
-    echo "* * * warning: possible errors while running automake - check autogen.err"
+    echo "$0: * * * Warning: autoreconf returned bad status ($status) - check autogen.err"
     echo ""
-    grep 'Undefined AX_ macro' autogen.err && exit 1
-}
+    exit 1
+fi
 
-run_configure=true
-for arg in $*; do
-    case $arg in
-        --no-configure)
-            run_configure=false
-            ;;
-        *)
-            ;;
-    esac
-done
+# If we have a config.cache file, toss it if the configure script has
+# changed, or if we just built it for the first time.
+if [ -f config.cache ]; then
+  (
+    [ -f "$OLD_CONFIGURE" ] && cmp configure "$OLD_CONFIGURE" > /dev/null 2>&1
+  ) || (
+    echo "$0: Tossing config.cache, since 'configure' has changed."
+    rm config.cache
+  )
+  rm -f "$OLD_CONFIGURE"
+fi
 
 if $run_configure; then
     mkdir -p build
     cd build
+    echo
+    echo "$0: Running 'configure'..."
     ../configure --enable-maintainer-mode "$@"
     status=$?
     if [ $status -eq 0 ]; then
       echo
-      echo "Now type 'make' to compile link-grammar (in the 'build' directory)."
+      echo "$0: Now type 'make' to compile link-grammar (in the 'build' directory)."
     else
       echo
-      echo "\"configure\" returned a bad status ($status)."
+      echo "$0: 'configure' returned a bad status ($status)."
     fi
 else
     echo
-    echo "Now run 'configure' and 'make' to compile link-grammar."
+    echo "$0: Now run 'configure' and 'make' to compile link-grammar."
 fi
diff --git a/mingw/README-MinGW64.md b/mingw/README-MinGW64.md
index c99512e386..a4612123e6 100644
--- a/mingw/README-MinGW64.md
+++ b/mingw/README-MinGW64.md
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ Then build and install link-grammar with
 
      mkdir build
      cd build
-     ../configure
+     sh ../configure
      make
      make install