diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 6ccf77b6..e1d5774b 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS=-I m4
 SUBDIRS=lib src
 EXTRA_DIST=server.html
 docs:
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2c2cd76f..4837fbcc 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,11 +2,12 @@
 # Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 
 AC_PREREQ([2.60])
-m4_include([version.m4])
-AC_INIT(MistServer, VERSION_NUMBER, contact@ddvtech.com)
+AC_INIT([MistServer],
+	m4_esyscmd([git describe --tags | tr -d '\n']),
+	[contact@ddvtech.com])
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/buffer.cpp])
-AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
+# foreign: no need for NEWS or INSTALL files
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign])
 LT_INIT
 
 # Checks for programs.
diff --git a/version.sh b/version.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 671da00b..00000000
--- a/version.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-if git describe --tags > version.tmp; then
-    echo "m4_define([VERSION_NUMBER], [`tr -d '\n' < version.tmp`])" > version.m4
-fi
-rm version.tmp