diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libevent/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libevent/package.py
index c0ece0386c..7969fb63d5 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libevent/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libevent/package.py
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ class Libevent(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on("openssl@:1.0", when="@:2.0+openssl")
     depends_on("openssl", when="+openssl")
 
+    depends_on("autoconf", type="build")
+    depends_on("automake", type="build")
+    depends_on("libtool", type="build")
+
     def url_for_version(self, version):
         if version >= Version("2.0.22"):
             url = "https://github.com/libevent/libevent/releases/download/release-{0}-stable/libevent-{0}-stable.tar.gz"
@@ -54,6 +58,9 @@ def libs(self):
         libs = find_libraries("libevent", root=self.prefix, shared=True, recursive=True)
         return LibraryList(libs)
 
+    def autoreconf(self, spec, prefix):
+        Executable("./autogen.sh")()
+
     def configure_args(self):
         spec = self.spec
         configure_args = []