diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 4eb646d743..98b4b13868 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Note for Subversion (SVN) checkouts
 -----------------------------
 
 If you have checked this out from Subversion, you need to have:
-* automake >= 1.10.1
+* automake >= 1.8
 * autoconf >= 2.59c
 * gettext >= 0.12
 Then type "./autogen.sh" to build the needed configuration
diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index f8e1f5ce73..da8b6aa655 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -16,12 +16,12 @@ test "$automake_version" != "" && {
 }
 
 case $automake_version in
-    *' '1.10.*|*' '1.11*)
+    *' '1.[8-9]*|*' '1.1[01]*)
 	;;
     *)
 
 	echo "This automake version is not supported by LyX."
-	echo "LyX only supports automake 1.10.1 to 1.11."
+	echo "LyX only supports automake 1.8 to 1.11."
 	exit 1
 	;;
 esac
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 4d47390bea..565dd89ff5 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ fi
 AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
 
 save_PACKAGE=$PACKAGE
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign dist-lzma no-define 1.10])
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign dist-bzip2 no-define 1.8])
 m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES],[AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])])
 PACKAGE=$save_PACKAGE