diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a058a1fff4..13bb5baf71 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([config])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([config])
 AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM
 AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
-AM_SILENT_RULES
+m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])])
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([$ZFS_META_NAME], [$ZFS_META_VERSION])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([zfs_config.h], [
 	(mv zfs_config.h zfs_config.h.tmp &&