It appears that when I modify Makefile.am it will then automatically modify Makefile.in. If I modify Makefile.in it will automatically cause the Makefile to be regenerated. How can I stop that? I want to stop it because the Makefile has special parameters I have taken out so it would compile with my compiler and when the Makefile is regenerated it is very irritating to go back and retake it out. I also know what places to modify in all three files so I don't have rerun automake and then configure on everything. Thanks, Tim Heath P.S. I would like to avoid this problem all together by writing some m4 macros for my particular compiler so it would generate a Makefile that my compiler would be happy with. Does anyone know of a good tutorial or reference to do this?