--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -8,7 +8,10 @@ AC_PREREQ([2.61])
 AC_INIT([nmh], m4_normalize(m4_include([VERSION])), [nmh-workers@nongnu.org])
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([h/nmh.h])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADER([config.h])
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([-Wall -Werror foreign subdir-objects])
+
+# Disable the -Wextra-portability option to make this build 
+# with both automake 1.11 and newer ones (AM_PROG_AR issue)
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([-Wall -Werror foreign subdir-objects -Wno-extra-portability -Wno-override])
 
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST
 
@@ -253,6 +256,7 @@ AC_PROG_AWK             dnl Check for ma
 AC_PROG_SED		dnl Check for Posix-compliant sed
 AC_PROG_LEX             dnl Check for lex/flex
 
+
 dnl Look for `cut'
 pathtmp=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/xpg4/bin:/usr/ucb
 AC_PATH_PROG([cutpath], [cut], [no], [$pathtmp])
