diff -ur autoconf-2.71.orig/lib/freeze.mk autoconf-2.71/lib/freeze.mk
--- autoconf-2.71.orig/lib/freeze.mk	2021-01-28 21:46:48.000000000 +0100
+++ autoconf-2.71/lib/freeze.mk	2021-10-25 09:21:38.519238189 +0200
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 # apply to us.
 MY_AUTOM4TE =									\
 	autom4te_perllibdir='$(top_srcdir)'/lib					\
-	AUTOM4TE_CFG='$(AUTOM4TE_CFG)'         $(top_build_prefix)bin/autom4te	\
+	AUTOM4TE_CFG='$(AUTOM4TE_CFG)'        perl $(top_build_prefix)bin/autom4te	\
 		-B '$(top_build_prefix)'lib -B '$(top_srcdir)'/lib        # keep ` '
 
 # When processing the file with diversion disabled, there must be no
diff -ur autoconf-2.71.orig/Makefile.in autoconf-2.71/Makefile.in
--- autoconf-2.71.orig/Makefile.in	2021-01-28 22:06:02.000000000 +0100
+++ autoconf-2.71/Makefile.in	2021-10-25 09:22:07.231239851 +0200
@@ -577,7 +577,7 @@
 # apply to us.
 MY_AUTOM4TE = \
 	autom4te_perllibdir='$(top_srcdir)'/lib					\
-	AUTOM4TE_CFG='$(AUTOM4TE_CFG)'         $(top_build_prefix)bin/autom4te	\
+	AUTOM4TE_CFG='$(AUTOM4TE_CFG)'         perl $(top_build_prefix)bin/autom4te	\
 		-B '$(top_build_prefix)'lib -B '$(top_srcdir)'/lib        # keep ` '
 
 
