diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index bdef40d7c0..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 >= 1.5
+* automake >= 1.8
 * autoconf >= 2.59c
 * gettext >= 0.12
 Then type "./autogen.sh" to build the needed configuration
diff --git a/config/mkinstalldirs b/config/mkinstalldirs
deleted file mode 100755
index 6fbe5e1176..0000000000
--- a/config/mkinstalldirs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,150 +0,0 @@
-#! /bin/sh
-# mkinstalldirs --- make directory hierarchy
-
-scriptversion=2004-02-15.20
-
-# Original author: Noah Friedman <friedman@prep.ai.mit.edu>
-# Created: 1993-05-16
-# Public domain.
-#
-# This file is maintained in Automake, please report
-# bugs to <bug-automake@gnu.org> or send patches to
-# <automake-patches@gnu.org>.
-
-errstatus=0
-dirmode=""
-
-usage="\
-Usage: mkinstalldirs [-h] [--help] [--version] [-m MODE] DIR ...
-
-Create each directory DIR (with mode MODE, if specified), including all
-leading file name components.
-
-Report bugs to <bug-automake@gnu.org>."
-
-# process command line arguments
-while test $# -gt 0 ; do
-  case $1 in
-    -h | --help | --h*)         # -h for help
-      echo "$usage"
-      exit 0
-      ;;
-    -m)                         # -m PERM arg
-      shift
-      test $# -eq 0 && { echo "$usage" 1>&2; exit 1; }
-      dirmode=$1
-      shift
-      ;;
-    --version)
-      echo "$0 $scriptversion"
-      exit 0
-      ;;
-    --)                         # stop option processing
-      shift
-      break
-      ;;
-    -*)                         # unknown option
-      echo "$usage" 1>&2
-      exit 1
-      ;;
-    *)                          # first non-opt arg
-      break
-      ;;
-  esac
-done
-
-for file
-do
-  if test -d "$file"; then
-    shift
-  else
-    break
-  fi
-done
-
-case $# in
-  0) exit 0 ;;
-esac
-
-# Solaris 8's mkdir -p isn't thread-safe.  If you mkdir -p a/b and
-# mkdir -p a/c at the same time, both will detect that a is missing,
-# one will create a, then the other will try to create a and die with
-# a "File exists" error.  This is a problem when calling mkinstalldirs
-# from a parallel make.  We use --version in the probe to restrict
-# ourselves to GNU mkdir, which is thread-safe.
-case $dirmode in
-  '')
-    if mkdir -p --version . >/dev/null 2>&1 && test ! -d ./--version; then
-      echo "mkdir -p -- $*"
-      exec mkdir -p -- "$@"
-    else
-      # On NextStep and OpenStep, the `mkdir' command does not
-      # recognize any option.  It will interpret all options as
-      # directories to create, and then abort because `.' already
-      # exists.
-      test -d ./-p && rmdir ./-p
-      test -d ./--version && rmdir ./--version
-    fi
-    ;;
-  *)
-    if mkdir -m "$dirmode" -p --version . >/dev/null 2>&1 &&
-       test ! -d ./--version; then
-      echo "mkdir -m $dirmode -p -- $*"
-      exec mkdir -m "$dirmode" -p -- "$@"
-    else
-      # Clean up after NextStep and OpenStep mkdir.
-      for d in ./-m ./-p ./--version "./$dirmode";
-      do
-        test -d $d && rmdir $d
-      done
-    fi
-    ;;
-esac
-
-for file
-do
-  set fnord `echo ":$file" | sed -ne 's/^:\//#/;s/^://;s/\// /g;s/^#/\//;p'`
-  shift
-
-  pathcomp=
-  for d
-  do
-    pathcomp="$pathcomp$d"
-    case $pathcomp in
-      -*) pathcomp=./$pathcomp ;;
-    esac
-
-    if test ! -d "$pathcomp"; then
-      echo "mkdir $pathcomp"
-
-      mkdir "$pathcomp" || lasterr=$?
-
-      if test ! -d "$pathcomp"; then
-	errstatus=$lasterr
-      else
-	if test ! -z "$dirmode"; then
-	  echo "chmod $dirmode $pathcomp"
-	  lasterr=""
-	  chmod "$dirmode" "$pathcomp" || lasterr=$?
-
-	  if test ! -z "$lasterr"; then
-	    errstatus=$lasterr
-	  fi
-	fi
-      fi
-    fi
-
-    pathcomp="$pathcomp/"
-  done
-done
-
-exit $errstatus
-
-# Local Variables:
-# mode: shell-script
-# sh-indentation: 2
-# eval: (add-hook 'write-file-hooks 'time-stamp)
-# time-stamp-start: "scriptversion="
-# time-stamp-format: "%:y-%02m-%02d.%02H"
-# time-stamp-end: "$"
-# End:
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f81818aa40..8009bc3efb 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