+dnl The test for _AM_PROG_CC_C_O intends to test for automake 1.14 or newer,
+dnl which are the versions where subdir-objects can beused.
+dnl see: https://www.mail-archive.com/lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org/msg181023.html
+m4_define([LYX_OBJECTS_LAYOUT], m4_ifdef([_AM_PROG_CC_C_O],[subdir-objects],))
+# Automake is pulling the historical V7 format. This tar format supports
+# file names only up to 99 characters. tar-ustar selects the ustar format defined
+# by POSIX 1003.1-1988. This format is believed to be old enough to be portable.
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign dist-bzip2 no-define 1.8 tar-ustar] LYX_OBJECTS_LAYOUT)