diff --git a/cyrus-sasl.spec b/cyrus-sasl.spec
index dbde6d3..51efb22 100644
--- a/cyrus-sasl.spec
+++ b/cyrus-sasl.spec
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Patch24: cyrus-sasl-2.1.21-sizes.patch
 Patch25: cyrus-sasl-2.1.22-typo.patch
 Patch50: db-4.3.27-initmem.patch
 Buildroot: %{_tmppath}/%{name}-root
-BuildPrereq: autoconf, automake, libtool, gdbm-devel, groff
+BuildPrereq: autoconf, automake17, libtool, gdbm-devel, groff
 BuildPrereq: krb5-devel >= 1.2.2, openssl-devel, pam-devel, pkgconfig
 BuildPrereq: mysql-devel, postgresql-devel, zlib-devel
 %if ! %{bootstrap_cyrus_sasl}
@@ -153,8 +153,8 @@ popd
 rm config/ltconfig config/libtool.m4
 rm -fr autom4te.cache
 libtoolize -f -c
-aclocal -I config -I cmulocal
-automake -a -c -f
+aclocal-1.7 -I config -I cmulocal
+automake-1.7 -a -c -f
 autoheader
 autoconf -f
 
@@ -163,8 +163,8 @@ pushd saslauthd
 rm config/ltconfig
 rm -fr autom4te.cache
 libtoolize -f -c
-aclocal -I config -I ../cmulocal -I ../config
-automake -a -c -f
+aclocal-1.7 -I config -I ../cmulocal -I ../config
+automake-1.7 -a -c -f
 autoheader
 autoconf -f
 popd
@@ -430,6 +430,7 @@ fi
 - rebuild
 - add 'authentication' or 'auxprop' to summaries for plugin packages to
   better indicate what the plugin provides
+- switch from automake 1.9 to automake 1.7
 
 * Fri Sep 29 2006 Nalin Dahyabhai <nalin@redhat.com> 2.1.22-4
 - rebuild without 'dlcompat' bits (#206119)