diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 09d5a6b804d7..7830f2bdd4e4 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I config
 
 SUBDIRS = include
 if BUILD_LINUX
-SUBDIRS += rpm
+include $(srcdir)/%D%/rpm/Makefile.am
 endif
 
 CPPCHECKDIRS += etc/systemd/system-generators
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index dd1f63f492f9..292f9a45f1d1 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -97,12 +97,9 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES([
 	lib/libzfs_core/libzfs_core.pc
 	module/Kbuild
 	module/Makefile
-	rpm/Makefile
-	rpm/generic/Makefile
 	rpm/generic/zfs-dkms.spec
 	rpm/generic/zfs-kmod.spec
 	rpm/generic/zfs.spec
-	rpm/redhat/Makefile
 	rpm/redhat/zfs-dkms.spec
 	rpm/redhat/zfs-kmod.spec
 	rpm/redhat/zfs.spec
diff --git a/rpm/.gitignore b/rpm/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f83960d1a7c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rpm/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+/*/*.spec
diff --git a/rpm/Makefile.am b/rpm/Makefile.am
index f2cf72cef13c..216cb731fea9 100644
--- a/rpm/Makefile.am
+++ b/rpm/Makefile.am
@@ -1 +1,8 @@
-SUBDIRS = generic redhat
+EXTRA_DIST += \
+	%D%/generic/zfs-dkms.spec.in \
+	%D%/generic/zfs-kmod.spec.in \
+	%D%/generic/zfs.spec.in \
+	\
+	%D%/redhat/zfs-dkms.spec.in \
+	%D%/redhat/zfs-kmod.spec.in \
+	%D%/redhat/zfs.spec.in
diff --git a/rpm/generic/.gitignore b/rpm/generic/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 7f5daafdd6d4..000000000000
--- a/rpm/generic/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-/zfs-dkms.spec
-/zfs-kmod.spec
-/zfs.spec
diff --git a/rpm/generic/Makefile.am b/rpm/generic/Makefile.am
deleted file mode 100644
index 89b13640d622..000000000000
--- a/rpm/generic/Makefile.am
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-EXTRA_DIST = zfs.spec.in zfs-kmod.spec.in zfs-dkms.spec.in
diff --git a/rpm/redhat/.gitignore b/rpm/redhat/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 7f5daafdd6d4..000000000000
--- a/rpm/redhat/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-/zfs-dkms.spec
-/zfs-kmod.spec
-/zfs.spec
diff --git a/rpm/redhat/Makefile.am b/rpm/redhat/Makefile.am
deleted file mode 100644
index 89b13640d622..000000000000
--- a/rpm/redhat/Makefile.am
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-EXTRA_DIST = zfs.spec.in zfs-kmod.spec.in zfs-dkms.spec.in