diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f8e8843..d2a0f56 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([configure.ac])
 
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.9 foreign dist-bzip2 no-dist-gzip subdir-objects])
+m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES],[AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])])
 
 if test "$enable_maintainer_mode" = "yes"; then
 	AC_DEFINE([MAINTAINER_MODE],[1],[Define to enable 'maintainer-only' behaviour])
