diff --git a/make-dist b/make-dist
index eb040150d9d..b069130ca61 100755
--- a/make-dist
+++ b/make-dist
@@ -392,9 +392,11 @@ manifest=MANIFEST
 # other way when adding or deleting a distributed file while not using Git.
 # TODO: maybe this should ignore $update, and always update MANIFEST
 # if .git is present.
+# Filter out the files in msdos/autogen/, as they aren't useful in the
+# tarball, and get in the way during the build of the MSDOS port.
 if ( [ $update = yes ] || [ ! -f $manifest ] ) && [ -r .git ]; then
   echo "Updating $manifest"
-  git ls-files > $manifest || exit
+  git ls-files | sed -e '/^msdos\/autogen\//d' > $manifest || exit
   printf '%s\n' $possibly_non_vc_files $info_files >>$manifest || exit
   sort -u -o $manifest $manifest || exit
 fi