diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 63e8845739..9dd0675355 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ AH_BOTTOM([
 
 AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
 
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.6 dist-bzip2 -Wall -Wno-portability color-tests])
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.6 dist-bzip2 dist-xz -Wall -Wno-portability color-tests])
 m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])])
 
 CFOPT_WARNING=""