diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index a959fac07..9fe2ebc07 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -47,6 +47,13 @@ dist_changelogs_DATA += ChangeLogs/ChangeLog-1.0.0
 
 EXTRA_DIST  = .editorconfig
 EXTRA_DIST += po/README
+# Just in case these come in handy during development started from a
+# regular source tarball.  They are not needed otherwise as they are
+# already applied to the files in the source tarball.
+EXTRA_DIST += patches/ltmain.sh.patch
+EXTRA_DIST += patches/Rules-quot.patch
+EXTRA_DIST += patches/ax_create_stdint_h.19-20.m4.patch
+EXTRA_DIST += patches/ax_create_stdint_h.20-21.m4.patch
 
 #
 # Keep the .gitignore files sorted, and use this target to do it.
diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 062ac949d..d7edc367f 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 test -n "$srcdir" || srcdir=`dirname "$0"`
 test -n "$srcdir" || srcdir=.
 
+patchdir="$srcdir/patches"
+
 # Suppress warnings about obsolete macros if still needed (#122)
 ac_dir=$(aclocal --print-ac-dir)
 if test -r "$ac_dir/ax_create_stdint_h.m4"; then
@@ -14,17 +16,17 @@ if test -r "$ac_dir/ax_create_stdint_h.m4"; then
 	if test "$serial" -lt 20; then
 	    echo "patching file $target to #serial 20"
 	    patch --quiet $target \
-		  "$srcdir/ax_create_stdint_h.19-20.m4.patch"
+		  "$patchdir/ax_create_stdint_h.19-20.m4.patch"
 	fi
 	echo "patching file $target to #serial 21"
 	patch --quiet "$target" \
-	      "$srcdir/ax_create_stdint_h.20-21.m4.patch"
+	      "$patchdir/ax_create_stdint_h.20-21.m4.patch"
     fi
 fi
 
 autoreconf --force --install --verbose --warnings=all "$srcdir"
-patch "$srcdir/ltmain.sh" "$srcdir/ltmain.sh.patch"
-patch "$srcdir/po/Rules-quot" "$srcdir/Rules-quot.patch"
+patch "$srcdir/ltmain.sh" "$patchdir/ltmain.sh.patch"
+patch "$srcdir/po/Rules-quot" "$patchdir/Rules-quot.patch"
 autoreconf "$srcdir"
 
 # Taken from https://gitlab.com/utsushi/utsushi/blob/master/bootstrap
diff --git a/Rules-quot.patch b/patches/Rules-quot.patch
similarity index 100%
rename from Rules-quot.patch
rename to patches/Rules-quot.patch
diff --git a/ax_create_stdint_h.19-20.m4.patch b/patches/ax_create_stdint_h.19-20.m4.patch
similarity index 100%
rename from ax_create_stdint_h.19-20.m4.patch
rename to patches/ax_create_stdint_h.19-20.m4.patch
diff --git a/ax_create_stdint_h.20-21.m4.patch b/patches/ax_create_stdint_h.20-21.m4.patch
similarity index 100%
rename from ax_create_stdint_h.20-21.m4.patch
rename to patches/ax_create_stdint_h.20-21.m4.patch
diff --git a/ltmain.sh.patch b/patches/ltmain.sh.patch
similarity index 100%
rename from ltmain.sh.patch
rename to patches/ltmain.sh.patch