diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 1d5794b..4c3e7c3 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
+ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
 SUBDIRS = src
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 3a82f9b..c7eb648 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ AC_PROG_MAKE_SET
 AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_CXX
 AC_PROG_INSTALL
-AC_PROG_RANLIB
 LT_INIT
 
 dnl checks for header files
diff --git a/src/common/Makefile.am b/src/common/Makefile.am
index ab53e20..61ea605 100644
--- a/src/common/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/common/Makefile.am
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = subdir-objects
 AM_CPPFLAGS = -Wall -g $(all_includes)
 
 noinst_LIBRARIES = libcommon.a
diff --git a/src/test/Makefile.am b/src/test/Makefile.am
index 1404651..0a62340 100644
--- a/src/test/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/test/Makefile.am
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = subdir-objects
 AM_CPPFLAGS = -Wall -g $(all_includes)
 
 noinst_PROGRAMS = \