diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 409bb0b5ef..1fa22ea6ac 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2005-02-23  Angus Leeming  <leeming@lyx.org>
+
+	* autogen.sh: test for automake >= 1.5 and for gettext >= 0.12.
+
+	* INSTALL: document these requirements.
+
 2005-02-09  Jean-Marc Lasgouttes  <lasgouttes@lyx.org>
 
 	* Makefile.am: remove hack for making bindist work with autoconf
diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 6a4bd0fbbb..a3d4db782e 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -29,9 +29,11 @@ These four steps will compile, test and install LyX:
 Note for CVS checkouts
 ----------------------
 
-If you have checked this out from CVS, you need to have
-automake, autoconf, and gettext installed.  Then,
-type "./autogen.sh" to build the needed configuration
+If you have checked this out from CVS, you need to have:
+* automake >= 1.5
+* autoconf >= 2.52
+* gettext >= 0.12
+Then type "./autogen.sh" to build the needed configuration
 files and proceed as stated below.
 
 You will also probably need GNU m4 (perhaps installed as gm4).
@@ -41,16 +43,17 @@ Requirements
 
 First of all, you will also need a recent C++ compiler, where recent
 means that the compilers are close to C++ standard conforming.
-Compilers that are known to compile LyX are egcs 1.1.x, gcc 2.95.x and
-later, and Digital C++ version 6.1 and later. Please tell us your
-experience with other compilers. It is _not_ possible to compile LyX
-with gcc 2.7.x and 2.8.x, and this is not likely to change in the
-future.
+Compilers that are known to compile LyX are gcc 2.95.x and later
+and Digital C++ version 6.1 and later. Please tell us your experience
+with other compilers.
 
-Note that, contrary to LyX 1.0.x, LyX 1.3.x makes great use of C++
-Standard Template Library (STL); this means that gcc users will have
-to install the relevant libstdc++ library to be able to compile this
-version.
+It is _not_ possible to compile LyX with gcc 2.7.x and 2.8.x.
+
+LyX 1.4.x makes great use of C++ Standard Template Library (STL).
+This means that gcc users will have to install the relevant libstdc++
+library to be able to compile this version of LyX. Users of gcc 2.95.x
+will have to install the STLPort version of these libraries as the
+ones that come with gcc 2.95.x are too broken for us to use.
 
 * xforms frontend
 
diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 0b75d7be01..20065e9545 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -6,12 +6,59 @@ AUTOMAKE="automake -a -c --foreign"
 AUTOCONF="autoconf"
 ACINCLUDE_FILES="lyxinclude.m4 libtool.m4 xforms.m4 qt.m4 gtk--.m4 gnome--.m4 gnome.m4 aspell.m4 pspell.m4 cygwin.m4 pkg.m4"
 
-# Discover what version of autoconf we are using.
-autoversion=`$AUTOCONF --version | head -n 1`
+# Discover what version of gettext we are using.
+gettext_version=`gettext --version 2>/dev/null | head -n 1`
 
-echo "Using $autoversion"
+test "$gettext_version" != "" && {
+    echo "Using $gettext_version"
+} || {
+    echo "LyX requires getttext >= 0.12"
+    exit
+}
+
+case $gettext_version in
+    *' '0.1[2-4]*)
+	;;
+    *)
+	echo "This gettext version is not supported by LyX."
+	echo "LyX supports only gettext 0.1[2-4]."
+	exit
+	;;
+esac
+
+# Discover what version of automake we are using.
+automake_version=`$AUTOMAKE --version 2>/dev/null | head -n 1`
+
+test "$automake_version" != "" && {
+    echo "Using $automake_version"
+} || {
+    echo "LyX requires automake >= 1.5"
+    exit
+}
+
+case $automake_version in
+    *' '1.[5-7]*)
+	;;
+    *)
+    
+	echo "This automake version is not supported by LyX."
+        echo "LyX only supports automake 1.[5-7]."
+        exit
+        ;;
+esac
+							
+# Discover what version of autoconf we are using.
+autoversion=`$AUTOCONF --version 2>/dev/null | head -n 1`
+
+test "$autoversion" != "" && {
+    echo "Using $autoversion"
+} || {
+    echo "LyX requires autoconf >= 2.52"
+    exit
+}
+	    
 case $autoversion in
-    *2.5[2-9])
+    *' '2.5[2-9])
 	EXTRA_ACINCLUDE_FILES="lyxinclude25x.m4"
 	;;
     *)