diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 6f675f074c..14e91a36ec 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 ## Process this file with automake to produce Makefile.in
 
+ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4macros
+
 SUBDIRS = \
 	m4macros	\
 	tools		\
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index b2058d47bf..4c90be68ec 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ AC_INIT([GIMP], [gimp_version],
         [gimp])
 
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([app/core/gimp.c])
+AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4macros])
 
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(no-define dist-bzip2)
 AM_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h)
diff --git a/m4macros/.gitignore b/m4macros/.gitignore
index b336cc7cec..5953da978a 100644
--- a/m4macros/.gitignore
+++ b/m4macros/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,9 @@
-/Makefile
-/Makefile.in
+Makefile
+Makefile.in
+gtk-doc.m4
+intltool.m4
+libtool.m4
+lt~obsolete.m4
+ltoptions.m4
+ltsugar.m4
+ltversion.m4