diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 8227311..232436e 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -5,11 +5,15 @@ SUBDIRS = lib comedi_calibrate comedi_config man testing demo doc swig \
 #pkgconfigdir = $(libdir)/pkgconfig
 #pkgconfig_DATA = comedilib.pc
 
-EXTRA_DIST = debian m4 comedilib.spec 
+## with automake 1.8, putting the m4 directory in EXTRA_DIST is not needed, and
+## causes 'make distcheck' to fail, by way of 'make distdir' failing when builddir != srcdir 
+## and srcdir is read-only.
+EXTRA_DIST = debian comedilib.spec autogen.sh
 
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
 
-DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = RUBY_PREFIX='$${prefix}'
+## ruby binding is excluded from distcheck because setup.rb doesn't support uninstall
+DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = RUBY_PREFIX='$${prefix}' --disable-ruby-binding
 
 dist-hook:
 	rm -rf `find $(distdir) -name CVS`