diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 826fb0acfc868f185d98b9e96a62fe9d31fb7e0d..293169c8b7d43bfef7d8bb5a526a5cfd1af02619 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = \
 
 include $(top_srcdir)/am/global-rules
 
+BUILT_SOURCES = timestepping.cc
 $(srcdir)/timestepping.cc: $(srcdir)/timestepping.org
 	emacs -Q --batch --eval \
 	  "(let (vc-handled-backends) \