diff --git a/libgphoto2_port/m4/Makefile.am b/libgphoto2_port/m4/Makefile.am
index 7aa7f4751..7fdca7390 100644
--- a/libgphoto2_port/m4/Makefile.am
+++ b/libgphoto2_port/m4/Makefile.am
@@ -1 +1 @@
-EXTRA_DIST = gp-byteorder.m4 gp-camlibs.m4 gp-check-library.m4 gp-check-popt.m4 gp-check-shell-environment.m4 gp-config-msg.m4 gp-documentation.m4 gp-dynamic-libraries.m4 gp-gettext-hack.m4 gp-packaging.m4 gp-pkg-config.m4 gp-references.m4 gp-va-copy.m4 stdint.m4 gp-manual-docbook-xml.m4 gp-manual-documentation.m4 gp-manual-fig2dev.m4 gp-manual-graphviz.m4 gp-manual-gtk-doc.m4 gp-manual-pstoimg.m4 gp-manual-w3m.m4
+EXTRA_DIST = gp-autogen-subdir.m4 gp-byteorder.m4 gp-camlibs.m4 gp-check-library.m4 gp-check-popt.m4 gp-check-shell-environment.m4 gp-config-msg.m4 gp-documentation.m4 gp-dynamic-libraries.m4 gp-gettext-hack.m4 gp-packaging.m4 gp-pkg-config.m4 gp-references.m4 gp-va-copy.m4 stdint.m4 gp-manual-docbook-xml.m4 gp-manual-documentation.m4 gp-manual-fig2dev.m4 gp-manual-graphviz.m4 gp-manual-gtk-doc.m4 gp-manual-pstoimg.m4 gp-manual-w3m.m4
diff --git a/libgphoto2_port/m4/gp-autogen-subdir.m4 b/libgphoto2_port/m4/gp-autogen-subdir.m4
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9d961e913
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libgphoto2_port/m4/gp-autogen-subdir.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+dnl @synopsis GP_AUTOGEN_SUBDIRS([subdir])
+dnl
+dnl This macro takes a single subdirectory as parameter.
+dnl It is read by autogen.sh to determine the subdirectories autogen.sh
+dnl is to initialize, so there is nothing to do at configure time.
+dnl
+AC_DEFUN([GP_AUTOGEN_SUBDIRS],[])dnl
+AC_DEFUN([GP_AUTOGEN_SUBDIR],[])dnl
+dnl
+
+dnl Please do not remove this:
+dnl filetype: 7a83e79c-50a5-48de-9944-b2547e0be639
+dnl I use this to find all the different instances of this file which
+dnl are supposed to be synchronized.
+
+dnl Local Variables:
+dnl mode: autoconf
+dnl End: