diff --git a/contrib/devtools/build_autotools.sh b/contrib/devtools/build_autotools.sh
--- a/contrib/devtools/build_autotools.sh
+++ b/contrib/devtools/build_autotools.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 # Default to nothing
 : "${CONFIGURE_FLAGS:=}"
+: "${THREADS:=$(nproc || sysctl -n hw.ncpu)}"
 
 # Generate necessary autoconf files
 cd ${TOPLEVEL}