diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 19622128dd..8dcb0d181e 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 >= 1.5
+* automake >= 1.8
 * autoconf >= 2.59c
 * gettext >= 0.12
 Then type "./autogen.sh" to build the needed configuration
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 573083f483..ec8ad5a91a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ fi
 AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
 
 save_PACKAGE=$PACKAGE
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign dist-bzip2 no-define 1.5])
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign dist-bzip2 no-define 1.8])
 PACKAGE=$save_PACKAGE
 
 ### Set the execute permissions of the various scripts correctly
diff --git a/status.16x b/status.16x
index 724a25d5d1..79f2236e1b 100644
--- a/status.16x
+++ b/status.16x
@@ -142,4 +142,5 @@ What's new
 
 * BUILD/INSTALLATION
 
-
+- Clarify that we require automake 1.8 (this was already the case, but
+  nobody noticed).