diff --git a/projects/gnu.org/autoconf/package.yml b/projects/gnu.org/autoconf/package.yml
index 09782da9..b6d33167 100644
--- a/projects/gnu.org/autoconf/package.yml
+++ b/projects/gnu.org/autoconf/package.yml
@@ -23,29 +23,33 @@ dependencies:
   perl.org: '*'
 
 build:
-  dependencies:
-    git-scm.org: 2
-  script: |-
-    ./configure \
-      --build={{ hw.target }} \
-      --prefix="{{ prefix }}"
-    make --jobs {{ hw.concurrency }} install
+  # - ./configure
+  #   --build={{ hw.target }}
+  #   --prefix="{{ prefix }}"
+  - make --jobs {{ hw.concurrency }} install
 
-    cd "{{prefix}}"
+  - cd "{{prefix}}"
 
-    fix-shebangs.ts bin/*
+  - fix-shebangs.ts bin/*
 
-    perl -pi -e 's|\x27{{prefix}}|"\$PREFIX"\x27|g' bin/autoconf
+  - perl -pi -e 's|'\''{{prefix}}|"\$PREFIX"'\''|g' bin/autoconf
 
-    # fix specific m4 and perl paths
-    perl -pi -e 's|{{ deps.perl.org.prefix }}/bin/perl|perl|g' bin/*
-    perl -pi -e 's|{{ deps.gnu.org/m4.prefix }}/bin/m4|m4|g' bin/*
+  # fix specific m4 and perl paths
+  - perl -pi -e 's|{{ deps.perl.org.prefix }}/bin/perl|perl|g' bin/*
+  - perl -pi -e 's|{{ deps.gnu.org/m4.prefix }}/bin/m4|m4|g' bin/*
 
-    # fix hardcoded paths
-    perl -pi -e "s|'{{prefix}}/|\\\$prefix.'/|" bin/*
-    git apply $SRCROOT/props/relocatable.diff
+  # fix hardcoded paths
+  # this was a patch, but patches are fragile. this is more robust. for now.
+  - PREFIX="$(echo '{{prefix}}' | sed 's/\+/\\+/g')"
+  - perl -pi -e "s|'$PREFIX/|\\\$prefix.'/|g" bin/*
+  - run: patch -p1 < $SRCROOT/props/relocatable.diff
+    if: <2.72.0
+  - run: |
+      perl -p0i -e 's/\nBEGIN\n\{/use Cwd qw(abs_path);\nuse File::Basename;\n\nmy \$prefix;\nBEGIN\n{\n  \$prefix = dirname(dirname(abs_path(__FILE__)));\n  \$ENV{'\''PREFIX'\''} = \$prefix;\n/s' bin/*
+      perl -p0i -e 's|\n  \# Normalize the|\n  \# added by pkgx\n  \@prepend_include = map { \$_ =~ s/\\\$PREFIX/\$prefix/r } \@prepend_include;\n\n  \# Normalize the|g' bin/autom4te
+    if: '>=2.72.0'
 
-    perl -pi -e 's|{{prefix}}|\$PREFIX|' share/autoconf/autom4te.cfg
+  - perl -pi -e "s|$PREFIX|\\\$PREFIX|" share/autoconf/autom4te.cfg
 
 test:
   script: |