diff -ur libassuan.org/configure.ac libassuan/configure.ac
--- configure.ac	2017-02-16 18:32:51.549527554 +0100
+++ configure.ac~	2017-02-16 18:32:59.893497890 +0100
@@ -75,7 +80,22 @@
 AC_SUBST(LIBASSUAN_LT_REVISION)
 
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([build-aux])
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([serial-tests dist-bzip2 no-dist-gzip])
+
+dnl Initialize automake.  automake < 1.12 didn't have serial-tests and
+dnl gives an error if it sees this, but for automake >= 1.13
+dnl serial-tests is required so we have to include it.  Solution is to
+dnl test for the version of automake (by running an external command)
+dnl and provide it if necessary.  Note we have to do this entirely using
+dnl m4 macros since automake queries this macro by running
+dnl 'autoconf --trace ...'.
+m4_define([serial_tests], [
+    m4_esyscmd([automake --version |
+                head -1 |
+                awk '{split ($NF,a,"."); if (a[1] == 1 && a[2] >= 12) { print "serial-tests" }}'
+    ])
+])
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(foreign serial_tests dist-bzip2 no-dist-gzip) dnl NB: Do not [quote] this parameter.
+
 AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR(src/assuan.h.in)
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR(m4)