diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/netcdf-cxx4/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/netcdf-cxx4/package.py
index 049626c5b6d..463652b4c90 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/netcdf-cxx4/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/netcdf-cxx4/package.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ class NetcdfCxx4(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on('automake', type='build')
     depends_on('autoconf', type='build')
     depends_on('libtool', type='build')
+    depends_on('m4', type='build')
 
     force_autoreconf = True