diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 77b1f3a19781..ad93097d1ded 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
+
 bin_PROGRAMS = watchman
 
 doc_DATA = README.markdown
diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index f095e671388e..97e3261a9065 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -8,5 +8,5 @@ if test -d config.status ; then
 fi
 aclocal
 autoheader
-automake --add-missing --foreign
+automake --add-missing
 autoconf
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f41ca4eba91b..13234792c631 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 AC_INIT([watchman], [2.9.5], [], [watchman])
 AC_CANONICAL_TARGET
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([dist-bzip2 subdir-objects])
+m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES(yes)])
 
 CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -D_REENTRANT -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE"
 case $target_os in
@@ -189,5 +190,17 @@ AC_CONFIG_HEADER([config.h])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile thirdparty/jansson/jansson_config.h])
 AC_OUTPUT
 
+cat << EOF
+
+Your build configuration:
+
+        CPPFLAGS = $CPPFLAGS
+        CFLAGS = $CFLAGS
+        LDFLAGS = $LDFLAGS
+        prefix: $prefix
+        version: $VERSION
+
+EOF
+
 dnl vim:ts=2:sw=2: