diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 169d689977..69e765a602 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 autoreconf -v --install || exit 1
-if test -z "$NOCONFIGURE"; then
+
+# If there are any options, assume the user wants to run configure.
+# To run configure w/o any options, use ./autogen.sh --configure
+if [ $# -gt 0 ] ; then
+	case "$1" in
+	--conf*)
+		shift 1
+		;;
+	esac
     exec ./configure  "$@"
 fi