diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 4e7ec694747ea971d2db77c05b9716d820a4f41d..34fd055b3543a4837ce35938fe4168f2ea6e5e48 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -638,7 +638,7 @@ check-dirs: $(BUILT_SOURCES)
 
 check-local: check-dirs
 	$(CHECK_PYTHON_CODE) $(check_python_code)
-	$(CHECK_VERSION) $(VERSION)
+	$(CHECK_VERSION) $(VERSION) $(top_srcdir)/NEWS
 
 .PHONY: lint
 lint: ganeti $(BUILT_SOURCES)
diff --git a/autotools/check-version b/autotools/check-version
index 1a2e2b38255275ea1b97af1739747fec518a30b2..46d8c3e1aaa48b52ea1906061901c876defc3f61 100755
--- a/autotools/check-version
+++ b/autotools/check-version
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ set -e
 shopt -s extglob
 
 readonly version=$1
+readonly newsfile=$2
 readonly numpat='+([0-9])'
 
 case "$version" in
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ esac
 
 readonly newsver="Version ${version/~/}"
 
-if ! grep -q -x "$newsver" NEWS
+if ! grep -q -x "$newsver" $newsfile
 then
   echo "Unable to find heading '$newsver' in NEWS" >&2
   exit 1