diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 5ebc7ee98..dc66067cf 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ dist-hook:
 	(distit=`find $(srcdir) -name "*.dist" | grep -v ./ares/`; \
 	for file in $$distit; do \
 	  strip=`echo $$file | sed -e s/^$(srcdir)// -e s/\.dist//`; \
-	  cp $$file $(distdir)$$strip; \
+	  cp -p $$file $(distdir)$$strip; \
 	done)
 
 html:
diff --git a/maketgz b/maketgz
index a1509819c..f655ea365 100755
--- a/maketgz
+++ b/maketgz
@@ -139,6 +139,9 @@ fi
 echo "update man pages"
 ./scripts/updatemanpages.pl $version
 
+# make the generated file newer than the man page
+touch src/tool_hugehelp.c
+
 ############################################################################
 #
 # Update the IDE files