diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index e517a0f1..076ccad1 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@
 # additional info.
 
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
-m4 = @M4@
 indent = @INDENT@
 
 dist_doc_DATA = \
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 9cd79609..5353ebb1 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ localedir = $(datadir)/locale
 AM_CPPFLAGS = -DLOCALEDIR=\"$(localedir)\" -I$(top_srcdir)/intl
 LIBS = @LIBINTL@ @LIBS@
 
+m4 = @M4@
+
 bin_PROGRAMS = flex
 lib_LTLIBRARIES = \
 	libfl.la \