diff --git a/tests/testcurl.1 b/tests/testcurl.1
index 206e75673..9b98eea21 100644
--- a/tests/testcurl.1
+++ b/tests/testcurl.1
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 .\" * $Id$
 .\" **************************************************************************
 .\"
-.TH testcurl.pl 1 "15 Mar 2005" "Curl 7.13.2" "testcurl"
+.TH testcurl.pl 1 "20 May 2005" "Curl 7.14.1" "testcurl"
 .SH NAME
 testcurl.pl \- (automatically) test curl
 .SH SYNOPSIS
@@ -58,6 +58,11 @@ Set email address to report as. Displayed in the build logs on the site.
 Generic command to run after completed test.
 .IP "--name=[name]"
 Set name to report as. Displayed in the build summary on the site.
+.IP "--nobuildconf"
+Don't run buildconf. Useful when many builds use the same source tree, as then
+only one need to do this. Also, if multiple processes run tests simultaneously
+on the same source tree (like several hosts on a NFS mounted dir),
+simultaneous buildconf invokes may cause problems. (Added in 7.14.1)
 .IP "--nocvsup"
 Don't update from CVS even though it is a CVS tree. Useful to still be able to
 test even though your network is down, or similar.
diff --git a/tests/testcurl.pl b/tests/testcurl.pl
index 12f52b109..77cec503d 100755
--- a/tests/testcurl.pl
+++ b/tests/testcurl.pl
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 # --mktarball=[command]    Command to run after completed test
 # --name=[name]            Set name to report as
 # --nocvsup                Don't update from CVS even though it is a CVS tree
+# --nobuildconf            Don't run buildconf
 # --runtestopts=[options]  Options to pass to runtests.pl
 # --setup=[file name]      File name to read setup from (deprecated)
 # --target=[your os]       Specify your target environment.
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ use vars qw($version $fixed $infixed $CURLDIR $CVS $pwd $build $buildlog
             $buildlogname $configurebuild $targetos $confsuffix $binext
             $libext);
 use vars qw($name $email $desc $confopts $runtestopts $setupfile $mktarball
-            $nocvsup $crosscompile);
+            $nocvsup $nobuildconf $crosscompile);
 
 # version of this script
 $version='$Revision$';
@@ -101,6 +102,10 @@ while ($ARGV[0]) {
     $nocvsup=1;
     shift @ARGV;
   }
+  elsif ($ARGV[0] =~ /--nobuildconf/) {
+    $nobuildconf=1;
+    shift @ARGV;
+  }
   elsif ($ARGV[0] =~ /--crosscompile/) {
     $crosscompile=1;
     shift @ARGV;
@@ -348,11 +353,14 @@ if ($CVS) {
     mydie "failed to update from CVS ($cvsstat), exiting";
   }
 
-  # remove possible left-overs from the past
-  unlink "configure";
-  unlink "autom4te.cache";
+  if($nobuildconf) {
+      logit "told to not run buildconf";
+  }
+  elsif ($configurebuild) {
+    # remove possible left-overs from the past
+    unlink "configure";
+    unlink "autom4te.cache";
 
-  if ($configurebuild) {
     # generate the build files
     logit "invoke buildconf, but filter off the silly aclocal warnings";
     open(F, "./buildconf 2>&1 |") or die;
@@ -395,9 +403,9 @@ if ($CVS) {
 
 if ($configurebuild) {
   if (-f "configure") {
-    logit "configure created";
+    logit "configure created (at least it exists)";
   } else {
-    mydie "no configure created";
+    mydie "no configure created/found";
   }
 } else {
   logit "configure created (dummy message)"; # dummy message to feign success