diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/awslambdaric/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/awslambdaric/default.nix
index 3e20875ac15d5..788148d5e441f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/awslambdaric/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/awslambdaric/default.nix
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 , fetchpatch
 , isPy27
 , pytestCheckHook
-, autoconf
+, autoconf271
 , automake
 , cmake
 , gcc
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ simplejson ];
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoconf automake cmake libtool perl setuptools ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoconf271 automake cmake libtool perl setuptools ];
 
   buildInputs = [ gcc ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/autoconf/2.71.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/autoconf/2.71.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..1fcb819bd4b72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/autoconf/2.71.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+{ lib, stdenv, fetchurl, m4, perl, texinfo }:
+
+# Note: this package is used for bootstrapping fetchurl, and thus
+# cannot use fetchpatch! All mutable patches (generated by GitHub or
+# cgit) that are needed here should be included directly in Nixpkgs as
+# files.
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  pname = "autoconf";
+  version = "2.71";
+  outputs = [ "out" "doc" ];
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://gnu/autoconf/autoconf-${version}.tar.xz";
+    sha256 = "197sl23irn6s9pd54rxj5vcp5y8dv65jb9yfqgr2g56cxg7q6k7i";
+  };
+  patches = [
+    # fix stale autom4te cache race condition:
+    #  https://savannah.gnu.org/support/index.php?110521
+    ./2.71-fix-race.patch
+  ];
+
+  strictDeps = true;
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ m4 perl texinfo ];
+  buildInputs = [ m4 ];
+  postBuild = "
+    make html
+  ";
+
+  postInstall = "
+    make install-html
+  ";
+
+  # Work around a known issue in Cygwin.  See
+  # http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.sysutils.autoconf.bugs/6822 for
+  # details.
+  # There are many test failures on `i386-pc-solaris2.11'.
+  doCheck = ((!stdenv.isCygwin) && (!stdenv.isSunOS));
+
+  # Don't fixup "#! /bin/sh" in Autoconf, otherwise it will use the
+  # "fixed" path in generated files!
+  dontPatchShebangs = true;
+
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
+  # Make the Autotest test suite run in parallel.
+  preCheck =''
+    export TESTSUITEFLAGS="-j$NIX_BUILD_CORES"
+  '';
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = "https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/";
+    description = "Part of the GNU Build System";
+
+    longDescription = ''
+      GNU Autoconf is an extensible package of M4 macros that produce
+      shell scripts to automatically configure software source code
+      packages.  These scripts can adapt the packages to many kinds of
+      UNIX-like systems without manual user intervention.  Autoconf
+      creates a configuration script for a package from a template
+      file that lists the operating system features that the package
+      can use, in the form of M4 macro calls.
+    '';
+
+    license = lib.licenses.gpl3Plus;
+
+    platforms = lib.platforms.all;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/autoconf/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/autoconf/default.nix
index 1fcb819bd4b72..8039e36a4f209 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/autoconf/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/autoconf/default.nix
@@ -7,18 +7,13 @@
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "autoconf";
-  version = "2.71";
+  version = "2.72";
   outputs = [ "out" "doc" ];
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "mirror://gnu/autoconf/autoconf-${version}.tar.xz";
-    sha256 = "197sl23irn6s9pd54rxj5vcp5y8dv65jb9yfqgr2g56cxg7q6k7i";
+    hash = "sha256-uohcExlXjWyU1G6bDc60AUyq/iSQ5Deg28o/JwoiP1o=";
   };
-  patches = [
-    # fix stale autom4te cache race condition:
-    #  https://savannah.gnu.org/support/index.php?110521
-    ./2.71-fix-race.patch
-  ];
 
   strictDeps = true;
   nativeBuildInputs = [ m4 perl texinfo ];
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/firebird/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/firebird/default.nix
index e49f683da8777..7e7387819ab00 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/firebird/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/firebird/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, libedit, autoreconfHook, zlib, unzip, libtommath, libtomcrypt, icu, superServer ? false }:
+{ lib, stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, libedit, autoreconfHook271, zlib, unzip, libtommath, libtomcrypt, icu, superServer ? false }:
 
 let base = {
   pname = "firebird";
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ let base = {
     maintainers = with maintainers; [ marcweber ];
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoreconfHook ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoreconfHook271 ];
 
   buildInputs = [ libedit icu ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 1f86bfebd8326..0c56530fe6383 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -184,6 +184,9 @@ with pkgs;
   autoreconfHook269 = autoreconfHook.override {
     autoconf = autoconf269;
   };
+  autoreconfHook271 = autoreconfHook.override {
+    autoconf = autoconf271;
+  };
 
   autorestic = callPackage ../tools/backup/autorestic { };
 
@@ -18478,14 +18481,13 @@ with pkgs;
 
   autobuild = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/autobuild { };
 
-  autoconf = autoconf271;
-
   autoconf-archive = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/autoconf-archive { };
 
+  autoconf = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/autoconf { };
   autoconf213 = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/autoconf/2.13.nix { };
   autoconf264 = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/autoconf/2.64.nix { };
   autoconf269 = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/autoconf/2.69.nix { };
-  autoconf271 = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/autoconf { };
+  autoconf271 = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/autoconf/2.71.nix { };
 
   acr  = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/acr { };