diff --git a/public-trunk/configure.ac b/public-trunk/configure.ac
index 3b85066..af280a2 100644
--- a/public-trunk/configure.ac
+++ b/public-trunk/configure.ac
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ AC_CANONICAL_TARGET
 
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
 
+dnl Linux kernel KBuild style compile messages
+m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])])
+
 AM_PROG_AS
 AC_PROG_CXX
 AC_PROG_LN_S