diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 6daba890f8..39f8a63355 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -556,10 +556,12 @@ uninstall-info: uninstall-info-recursive
 	uninstall-info-am uninstall-info-recursive uninstall-recursive
 
 
+# the perl line below gets rid of '\r' characters because MSVC barfs at them.
+
 dist-hook:
 	rm -rf `find $(distdir) -name CVS -prune`
 	rm -rf `find $(distdir) -name .backup -prune -o -name *~`
-	cd $(distdir)/win_build && perl -pi.bak -e 'tr /\r//d' boinc.dsw */*.dsp
+	cd $(distdir)/win_build && perl -pi.bak -e 'tr /\r//d' boinc.dsw *.dsp
 # Tell versions [3.59,3.63) of GNU make to not export all variables.
 # Otherwise a system limit (for SysV at least) may be exceeded.
 .NOEXPORT: