diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 7492f07f..8851f5d6 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -2,7 +2,5 @@
 
 EXTRA_DIST = NEWS README TODO shadow.spec.in
 
-AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = 1.5 dist-bzip2 foreign
-
 SUBDIRS = po man libmisc lib src \
 	contrib doc etc
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index cf774e03..7e3f246d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 AC_PREREQ([2.64])
 AC_INIT([shadow], [4.4], [pkg-shadow-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org], [],
 	[https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow])
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.11 foreign dist-xz])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
 
 dnl Some hacks...