diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2..0000000000
diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2..0000000000
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c54161e15e..9177d21660 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 AC_PREREQ([2.59])
 AC_INIT(bind10-devel, 20120817, bind10-dev@isc.org)
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR(README)
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign])
 m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])])dnl be backward compatible
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4macros])