diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 59943f5c2..5a5b56391 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-SUBDIRS = po src doc example
+SUBDIRS = m4 po src doc example
 
 EXTRA_DIST = config.rpath  autogen.sh gramps.spec.in gramps.spec COPYING-DOCS FAQ COPYING intltool-extract.in intltool-merge.in intltool-update.in
 
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 465d39c01..86706e63f 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -226,6 +226,7 @@ AC_SUBST(GNOMEHELP)
 AC_SUBST(GPREFIX)
 
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([
+m4/Makefile
 po/Makefile.in
 Makefile 
 src/Makefile
diff --git a/m4/Makefile.am b/m4/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d057e28ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/m4/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+EXTRA_DIST = \
+	codeset.m4 \
+	gettext.m4 \
+	glibc21.m4 \
+	iconv.m4 \
+	isc-posix.m4 \
+	lcmessage.m4 \
+	progtest.m4