diff --git a/python/Makefile.am b/python/Makefile.am
index 778270df..07024346 100644
--- a/python/Makefile.am
+++ b/python/Makefile.am
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Makefile for libxml2 python library
 
+# We use a rule with multiple output files which creates problems with
+# parallel builds.
+.NOTPARALLEL:
+
 SUBDIRS = . tests
 
 docsdir = $(docdir)/python