diff --git a/make-dist b/make-dist
index 50662a4f2c4..db036e700c7 100755
--- a/make-dist
+++ b/make-dist
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ echo "Making links to top-level files"
 ln INSTALL README BUGS ${tempdir}
 ln ChangeLog.*[0-9] Makefile.in autogen.sh configure configure.ac ${tempdir}
 ln config.bat make-dist .dir-locals.el ${tempdir}
-ln aclocal.m4 ${tempdir}
+ln aclocal.m4 CONTRIBUTE ${tempdir}
 
 echo "Creating subdirectories"
 for subdir in site-lisp \