diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 7eb2b9f865..9f3163004a 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -159,6 +159,7 @@ DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = \
 	--enable-ifcfg-rh \
 	--enable-ifupdown \
 	--disable-dependency-tracking \
+	--disable-autotools-deprecation \
 	$(NULL)
 
 dist-configure-check:
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 05f67f716e..baf5a7afd6 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ subject to change and not guaranteed to be compatible with
 the later release.
 USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.  NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PRODUCTION USE!
 
+* Building with autotools is now deprecated and will be completely removed
+  in the next development cycle. We recommend using meson to build
+  NetworkManager -- for basic setup, see the CONTRIBUTING.md file.
+  To ignore this deprecation and still build with Autotools, you can specify
+  the '--disable-autotools-deprecation' argument when configuring.
 * Support changing the OpenSSL ciphers for 802.1X authentication via
   connection property "802-1x.openssl-ciphers".
 * The reason why a device is unmanaged is now properly set in the
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 5a7f25a51a..c49e693e0d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -16,6 +16,20 @@ AC_INIT([NetworkManager], [nm_version],
         [http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=NetworkManager],
         [NetworkManager])
 
+deprecation_message() {
+    echo "Building with Autotools is deprecated; meson is the recommended way to build NetworkManager."
+    echo "To learn more, see the CONTRIBUTING.md file."
+    echo "To ignore this, pass '--disable-autotools-deprecation' when configuring."
+    exit 1
+}
+
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([autotools-deprecation],
+    AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-autotools-deprecation],
+                   [Building with autotools is deprecated, passing this argument overrides this error.]),
+    [ test "$enableval" != "no" && deprecation_message ],
+    [ deprecation_message ]
+)
+
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([build-aux])
diff --git a/contrib/fedora/rpm/NetworkManager.spec b/contrib/fedora/rpm/NetworkManager.spec
index f55d243dd6..9e17053a76 100644
--- a/contrib/fedora/rpm/NetworkManager.spec
+++ b/contrib/fedora/rpm/NetworkManager.spec
@@ -918,7 +918,8 @@ autoreconf --install --force
 	--with-resolvconf=no \
 	--with-netconfig=no \
 	--with-config-dns-rc-manager-default=%{dns_rc_manager_default} \
-	--with-config-logging-backend-default=%{logging_backend_default}
+	--with-config-logging-backend-default=%{logging_backend_default} \
+	--disable-autotools-deprecation
 
 %make_build