diff --git a/urjtag/ChangeLog b/urjtag/ChangeLog
index 082d23b9..1a3806ff 100644
--- a/urjtag/ChangeLog
+++ b/urjtag/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2011-04-30  Mike Frysinger  <vapier@gentoo.org>
+
+  * configure.ac: Force recent versions of autotools (at least ones released
+    in the past 5 years.
+
 2011-03-08  Mike Frysinger  <vapier@gentoo.org>
 
   * data/xilinx/PARTS: Add xc3s1600e part.
diff --git a/urjtag/configure.ac b/urjtag/configure.ac
index d38831b5..52d5d4ca 100644
--- a/urjtag/configure.ac
+++ b/urjtag/configure.ac
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@
 
 AC_INIT(UrJTAG,0.10,http://urjtag.org,urjtag)
 
-AC_PREREQ(2.54)
+dnl autoconf-2.61 was released in 2006
+AC_PREREQ(2.61)
 AC_COPYRIGHT([Copyright (C) 2007/08 Kolja Waschk and other UrJTAG authors; 2002/03 ETC s.r.o.])
 AC_REVISION($Revision$)
 
@@ -56,7 +57,8 @@ AC_SUBST([SVN_REVISION])
 
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR(tools)
 
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([check-news dist-bzip2])
+dnl automake-1.10 was released in 2006
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.10 check-news dist-bzip2])
 dnl silent rules requires automake-1.11+
 m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES],
 	[AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])],
@@ -93,8 +95,9 @@ AM_CONFIG_HEADER(include/urjtag/urjtag.h)
 
 AC_GNU_SOURCE
 
+dnl gettext-0.16.1 was released in 2006
 AM_GNU_GETTEXT(external)
-AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION(0.14.1)
+AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION(0.16.1)
 
 LT_INIT
 AC_PROG_CC