diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a211be9853..9a7cb18c0f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -36,3 +36,5 @@ config.cache
 /po/guix.pot
 /guix-build
 /tests/*.trs
+/INSTALL
+/m4/*
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..83deffcada
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Please see the Git commit log at <https://gitorious.org/guix>.
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c36e76888f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+No news yet.
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 74029d10e2..d8537294c5 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ AC_PREREQ(2.68)
 AC_INIT([Guix], [0.0], [guile-user@gnu.org])
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([build-aux])
 
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.11 foreign silent-rules subdir-objects \
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.11 gnu silent-rules subdir-objects \
  color-tests parallel-tests])
 
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([guix.scm])