diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 9ad64eaf9..ce1160c00 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
-AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign 1.10 dist-bzip2
+AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign 1.10 dist-bzip2 subdir-objects
 
 AM_CPPFLAGS = -I$(srcdir)/src $(GLIB_CFLAGS)
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 150e81aa0..3ffe89b03 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 AC_PREREQ(2.60)
 AC_INIT(mpd, 0.16~git, musicpd-dev-team@lists.sourceforge.net)
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/main.c])
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign 1.10 dist-bzip2])
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign 1.10 dist-bzip2 subdir-objects])
 AM_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h)
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])