diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/vc/vcsh/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/vc/vcsh/package.nix
index fc141b1777b4..1dd27462ac0e 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/vc/vcsh/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/vc/vcsh/package.nix
@@ -2,8 +2,7 @@
   lib,
   stdenv,
   fetchurl,
-  autoconf,
-  automake116x,
+  autoreconfHook,
   makeWrapper,
   pkg-config,
   unzip,
@@ -20,9 +19,15 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     hash = "sha256-M/UME2kNCxwzngKXMYp0cdps7LWVwoS2I/mTrvPts7g=";
   };
 
+  postPatch = ''
+    patchShebangs build-aux/git-version-gen
+  '';
+
   nativeBuildInputs = [
-    autoconf
-    automake116x
+    # The files included in the release tarball require automake 1.16
+    # specifically. Regenerating files with autoreconf allows using newer
+    # versions.
+    autoreconfHook
     makeWrapper
     pkg-config
     unzip