diff --git a/urjtag/ChangeLog b/urjtag/ChangeLog
index c86a152c..a1490566 100644
--- a/urjtag/ChangeLog
+++ b/urjtag/ChangeLog
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
   * data/Makefile.am (nobase_dist_pkgdata_DATA): Add
     analog/bf592/STEPPINGS and analog/bf592/bf592.
 
+  * configure.ac: Enable quiet automake rules when available.
+
 2010-02-04  Jie Zhang  <jie.zhang@analog.com>
 
   * src/tap/cable/ft2232.c (ft2232_gnice_init_common): Replace
diff --git a/urjtag/configure.ac b/urjtag/configure.ac
index a1bcc162..6a83a14c 100644
--- a/urjtag/configure.ac
+++ b/urjtag/configure.ac
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ AC_SUBST([SVN_REVISION])
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR(tools)
 
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([check-news dist-bzip2])
+dnl silent rules requires automake-1.11+
+m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES],
+	[AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])],
+	[AC_SUBST([AM_DEFAULT_VERBOSITY], [1])])
 
 AC_CONFIG_FILES(
 	Makefile