diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 01768ac07f..7b12faaeef 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2003-05-08  Derek Atkins  <derek@ihtfp.com>
+
+	* configure.in: add AC_PREREQ(2.53) to require 2.53 :)
+	* macros/autogen.sh: add more searches for a good version of
+	  the autotools.
+
 2003-05-07  Derek Atkins  <derek@ihtfp.com>
 
 	* macros/autogen.sh: require autoconf >= 2.53 and automake >= 1.5
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 9c15e3cc2d..e53f33fe79 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 ### commands depend on them):
 
 AC_INIT(src/engine/Transaction.h)
+AC_PREREQ(2.53)
 
 AC_PROG_CC
 
diff --git a/macros/autogen.sh b/macros/autogen.sh
index 490347865c..04cc332850 100644
--- a/macros/autogen.sh
+++ b/macros/autogen.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ test_version()
     this_prog="$1"
     want_vers="$2"
 
-    testv=`"$this_prog" --version | head -1 | awk '{print $NF}'`
+    testv=`"$this_prog" --version 2>/dev/null | head -1 | awk '{print $NF}'`
     if test -z "$testv" ; then return 1 ; fi
 
     testv_major=`echo "$testv" | sed 's/\([0-9]*\).\([0-9]*\).*$/\1/'`
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ test_version()
     fi
 }
 
-# usage: find_program preset program version
+# usage: find_program preset program version "<other versions>"
 # sets "program" to the name of the program to use.
 # if preset is set, then use that regardless,
 #  otherwise check if "program" is of a good enough version and use that,
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ find_program()
     find="$1"
     prog="$2"
     vers="$3"
+    extravers="$4"
 
     if test -n "$find" ; then
 	test_version "$find" "$vers"
@@ -76,12 +77,14 @@ find_program()
 	    return 0
 	fi
 
-	test_version "$prog-$vers" "$vers"
-	status=$?
-	if test "$status" = 0 ; then
-	    program="$prog-$vers"
-	    return 0
-	fi
+	for test_vers in $vers $extravers ; do
+	    test_version "$prog-$test_vers" "$vers"
+	    status=$?
+	    if test "$status" = 0 ; then
+		program="$prog-$test_vers"
+		return 0
+	    fi
+	done
     fi
 
     echo
@@ -92,13 +95,13 @@ find_program()
     return 1
 }
 
-find_program "$AUTOCONF" autoconf 2.53
+find_program "$AUTOCONF" autoconf 2.53 "2.5 2.5x"
 [ "$?" = 0 ] && AUTOCONF="$program"
-find_program "$AUTOHEADER" autoheader 2.53
+find_program "$AUTOHEADER" autoheader 2.53 "2.5 2.5x"
 [ "$?" = 0 ] && AUTOHEADER="$program"
-find_program "$AUTOMAKE" automake 1.5
+find_program "$AUTOMAKE" automake 1.5 "1.6 1.7"
 [ "$?" = 0 ] && AUTOMAKE="$program"
-find_program "$ACLOCAL" aclocal 1.5
+find_program "$ACLOCAL" aclocal 1.5 "1.6 1.7"
 [ "$?" = 0 ] && ACLOCAL="$program"