diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2cd91e4f2..baaaaa615 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 AC_PREREQ(2.57)
 AC_INIT([libuv], [0.11.5], [https://github.com/joyent/libuv/issues])
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign -Wall -Werror])
-AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST
 AC_ENABLE_SHARED
@@ -23,6 +22,7 @@ AC_ENABLE_STATIC
 AC_PROG_CC
 # AM_PROG_AR is not available in automake v0.11 but it's essential in v0.12.
 m4_ifdef([AM_PROG_AR], [AM_PROG_AR])
+m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])])
 LT_INIT
 # TODO(bnoordhuis) Check for -pthread vs. -pthreads
 AC_CHECK_LIB([dl], [dlopen])