diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index a6e7ab232..75f0c0993 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ if INTERNAL_JIMTCL
 AM_CPPFLAGS += -I$(top_srcdir)/jimtcl \
 			   -I$(top_builddir)/jimtcl
 endif
-EXTRA_DIST_NEWS != ls $(srcdir)/NEWS-*
 EXTRA_DIST += \
 	BUGS \
 	HACKING \
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 158ba1599..f1fa5875f 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -854,6 +854,8 @@ AS_IF([test "x$gcc_warnings" = "xyes"], [
   AC_SUBST([GCC_WARNINGS], [$GCC_WARNINGS])
 ])
 
+AC_SUBST(EXTRA_DIST_NEWS, ["$(echo $srcdir/NEWS-*)"])
+
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([
   Makefile
 ])