--- a/configure.ac	2012-05-12 11:56:28.000000000 -0700
+++ b/configure.ac	2012-05-12 11:58:05.000000000 -0700
@@ -1,8 +1,14 @@
 AC_INIT([urweb], [20120512])
 WORKING_VERSION=0
 AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([-Wall -Werror foreign no-define])
+
+# automake 1.12 requires this, but automake 1.11 doesn't recognize it
+m4_pattern_allow([AM_PROG_AR])
+AM_PROG_AR
+
+# -Wno-portable prevents :=-style is non-portable errors
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([-Wall -Werror -Wno-portability foreign no-define])
 AC_PROG_CC()
 AC_PROG_LIBTOOL()
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([include/urweb/config.h])