diff --git a/main/Makefile b/main/Makefile
index 3afdddfcd3cebe4ecf10598b14620d5075a2a457..7d05ebfb09531bf0c55e91ed464d0c3834f1d2e8 100644
--- a/main/Makefile
+++ b/main/Makefile
@@ -142,6 +142,6 @@ asterisk: $(OBJS) editline/libedit.a db1-ast/libdb1.a $(AST_EMBED_LDSCRIPTS)
 clean::
 	rm -f asterisk
 	rm -f db1-ast/.*.d
-	@if [ -f editline/Makefile ]; then $(MAKE) -C editline clean ; fi
+	@if [ -f editline/Makefile ]; then $(MAKE) -C editline distclean ; fi
 	@$(MAKE) -C db1-ast clean
 	@$(MAKE) -C stdtime clean