diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 5db5e1f7d6..87f8a3616e 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 -I common/m4 ${ACLOCAL_FLAGS}
+ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 -I common/m4
 
-SUBDIRS = gst-libs gst tests common docs
+SUBDIRS = gst-libs gst tests m4 common docs
 
 DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS=--enable-gtk-doc
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 65dd2fa8e0..d7c2022046 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -973,6 +973,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES([
     Makefile
     common/Makefile
     common/m4/Makefile
+    m4/Makefile
     docs/Makefile
     docs/version.entities
     docs/plugins/Makefile
diff --git a/m4/Makefile.am b/m4/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..af864e3bbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/m4/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+EXTRA_DIST = $(wildcard *.m4)