diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2ecd3bc5c550eacff18fa79cfb855bfddd7af7a6_Y29uZmlndXJlLmFj..1ac2a6e6711eb366e23eba08174387f17a25084f_Y29uZmlndXJlLmFj 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@
 AC_SUBST(LIBEXSLT_VERSION_NUMBER)
 AC_SUBST(LIBEXSLT_VERSION_EXTRA)
 
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign])
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.15 foreign])
 
 # AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
 
@@ -70,10 +70,7 @@
 
 # AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
 
-# Support silent build rules, requires at least automake-1.11. Disable
-# by either passing --disable-silent-rules to configure or passing V=1
-# to make
-m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])])
+AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])
 
 dnl
 dnl Check the environment
diff --git a/python/Makefile.am b/python/Makefile.am
index 2ecd3bc5c550eacff18fa79cfb855bfddd7af7a6_cHl0aG9uL01ha2VmaWxlLmFt..1ac2a6e6711eb366e23eba08174387f17a25084f_cHl0aG9uL01ha2VmaWxlLmFt 100644
--- a/python/Makefile.am
+++ b/python/Makefile.am
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 # Makefile for libxml2 python library
-AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = 1.4 foreign
 
 SUBDIRS = . tests