diff -ru a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
--- a/Makefile.am	2009-09-29 13:48:10.000000000 +0000
+++ b/Makefile.am	2009-09-29 13:50:00.000000000 +0000
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@
 			@mkdir -p $$(dirname '$@')
 			@echo "$(SED) -e '...' $*.pathsubst >$*"
 			@$(SED) -e '$(pathsubst_RULES)' '$<' >'$@.tmp'
-			@-chmod --reference='$<' '$@.tmp'
+			@-chmod $$(stat -c %a '$<') '$@.tmp'
 			@if cmp -s '$@.tmp' '$*'; then \
 				echo "... no changes, reusing old version"; \
 				rm -f '$@.tmp'; \