diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index bcb42c55337bca00b318b91c96c5bcecdc9618e4..560f8259a5c1d851aca8b4f1fc1420e98af0303e 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@
 
 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
 
-ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
-
 EXTRA_DIST = CHANGES COPYING maketgz reconf Makefile.dist curl-config.in \
  curl-style.el sample.emacs RELEASE-NOTES buildconf buildconf.bat libcurl.pc.in
 
diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
index cf359d6750907b0afbe246443a869ef4401797f0..250833f72c79e594cb7e8095d9e063d03d8ce55c 100644
--- a/acinclude.m4
+++ b/acinclude.m4
@@ -3530,3 +3530,12 @@ AC_HELP_STRING([--without-ca-path], [Don't use a default CA path]),
   fi
 ])
 
+
+dnl Tests done using 'aclocal -I m4' in buildconf and 'ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4'
+dnl in top Makefile.am triggered a problem that prevented aclocal from running
+dnl successfully on SunOS 5.10 with GNU m4 1.4.5 and GNU Autoconf 2.61
+dnl We actually don't need all the bells and whistles that the above mechanism
+dnl provides. We only need to include our m4/reentrant.m4 file here.
+
+m4_include([m4/reentrant.m4])
+
diff --git a/ares/Makefile.am b/ares/Makefile.am
index 04db9ecc9eb86ccb139a8b4ec6d644a14340ac8f..a9433abdb3d22b7f75cc5abcc8fe9837b1f01a1f 100644
--- a/ares/Makefile.am
+++ b/ares/Makefile.am
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
 
-ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
-
 lib_LTLIBRARIES = libcares.la
 
 man_MANS = $(MANPAGES)
diff --git a/ares/acinclude.m4 b/ares/acinclude.m4
index 18fac9a3e8c106299fbb47577a82fbf10fa61824..13d1b08c4aff1fb30f06b70dd053396be568b88b 100644
--- a/ares/acinclude.m4
+++ b/ares/acinclude.m4
@@ -2120,3 +2120,11 @@ AC_DEFUN([CARES_CHECK_GETSERVBYPORT_R], [
   fi
 ])
 
+dnl Tests done using 'aclocal -I m4' in buildconf and 'ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4'
+dnl in top Makefile.am triggered a problem that prevented aclocal from running
+dnl successfully on SunOS 5.10 with GNU m4 1.4.5 and GNU Autoconf 2.61
+dnl We actually don't need all the bells and whistles that the above mechanism
+dnl provides. We only need to include our m4/reentrant.m4 file here.
+
+m4_include([m4/reentrant.m4])
+
diff --git a/ares/buildconf b/ares/buildconf
index bfaf39e872bf3ba2648011e7251cae5c377d4715..364d5a06ef3eb6328b6bdb9b368529913ad1cbad 100755
--- a/ares/buildconf
+++ b/ares/buildconf
@@ -1,13 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-if test -z "$ACLOCAL_FLAGS"; then
-  ACLOCAL_FLAGS="-I m4"
-else
-  ACLOCAL_FLAGS="$ACLOCAL_FLAGS -I m4"
-fi
-export ACLOCAL_FLAGS
-echo "cares buildconf: using ACLOCAL_FLAGS: $ACLOCAL_FLAGS"
-
 ${LIBTOOLIZE:-libtoolize} --copy --automake --force
 ${ACLOCAL:-aclocal} $ACLOCAL_FLAGS
 ${AUTOHEADER:-autoheader}
diff --git a/buildconf b/buildconf
index 6bc1e9ed9396a275fc2d1daca251c2173945bfae..8f4a30dd315c443a673e0afdcc9ba3d36db92171 100755
--- a/buildconf
+++ b/buildconf
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ if test -d tests/server/.deps; then
 fi
 
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Remove files generated in ares subdir on previous buildconf/configure run.
+# Remove files generated in c-ares subdir on previous buildconf/configure run.
 #
 if test -d ares; then
   cd ares
@@ -290,20 +290,11 @@ fi
 # run the correct scripts now
 #
 
-if test -z "$ACLOCAL_FLAGS"; then
-  ACLOCAL_FLAGS="-I m4"
-else
-  ACLOCAL_FLAGS="$ACLOCAL_FLAGS -I m4"
-fi
-
 tmp_host_type=`uname -a | sed '/SunOS/s/.*\(SunOS\).*/\1/'`
 if test "x$tmp_host_type" = "xSunOS"; then
   ACLOCAL_FLAGS="$ACLOCAL_FLAGS --verbose"
 fi
 
-export ACLOCAL_FLAGS
-echo "buildconf: using ACLOCAL_FLAGS: $ACLOCAL_FLAGS"
-
 echo "buildconf: running libtoolize"
 $libtoolize --copy --automake --force || die "The libtoolize command failed"
 echo "buildconf: running aclocal"