diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index cd90b6c02a6e7a23132cf485d3425230cb3d19f2..52f2caf5d44d84aa166b08b20f559890e1911e44 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
 
+AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
+
 SUBDIRS = src
 
 EXTRA_DIST =                                                                 \
diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 34a4d2e33468e3db9d247e5e3b09f3ecc1a6f5f9..9650eb7cc62e925b3e9b3812bc1a549a2aa0572e 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -15,13 +15,8 @@ fi
 
 set -ex
 
-rm -rf autom4te.cache
-
-aclocal-1.9 --force -I m4
-libtoolize -c -f
-autoheader -f -W all
-automake-1.9 --foreign -a -c -f -W all
-autoconf -f -W all,no-obsolete
+# TODO(kenton):  Use -Wall and fix the resulting warnings.
+autoreconf -f -i
 
 rm -rf autom4te.cache config.h.in~
 exit 0