diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index a69ad1c8..981f9f80 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 #
 # See LICENSE for copying information.
 
+# 'foreign' means that we're not enforcing GNU package rules strictly.
+# '1.9' means that we need automake 1.9 or later (and we do).
+AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign 1.9 subdir-objects
+
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
 
 # This is the "Release" of the Libevent ABI.  It takes precedence over
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 78a4edcc..22fb703d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -10,18 +10,7 @@ AC_PREREQ(2.59)
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR(event.c)
 
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
-
-# 'foreign' means that we're not enforcing GNU package rules strictly.
-# '1.9' means that we need automake 1.9 or later (and we do).
-# serial-tests means that we don't need parallel test harness
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(m4_esyscmd([echo foreign 1.9 subdir-objects
-    case `automake --version | head -n 1` in
-    *1.9*);;
-    *1.10*);;
-    *1.11*);;
-    *) echo serial-tests;;
-    esac]))
-
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
 dnl AM_SILENT_RULES req. automake 1.11.  [no] defaults V=1
 m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS(config.h  evconfig-private.h:evconfig-private.h.in)