diff --git a/benchmarks/Makefile b/benchmarks/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..322246d5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Makefile for the benchmarks.
+
+all::
+	chmod 755 run
+
+all clean::
+	for b in *bench*; do cd $$b && $(MAKE) $@; done
diff --git a/benchmarks/run b/benchmarks/run
index 887b40d96..1bc2c8c7a 100644
--- a/benchmarks/run
+++ b/benchmarks/run
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 set -e
 
+make
+
 benchmarks=`echo *bench*`
 
 runbench() {