diff --git a/tomcat.changes b/tomcat.changes
index 2023252..51ac035 100644
--- a/tomcat.changes
+++ b/tomcat.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Wed Sep  3 10:47:16 UTC 2014 - dmacvicar@suse.de
+
+- touch the alternatives files to avoid build errors
+  in older versions
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Tue Jul 29 11:25:14 UTC 2014 - tchvatal@suse.com
 
diff --git a/tomcat.spec b/tomcat.spec
index 205b959..c045e59 100644
--- a/tomcat.spec
+++ b/tomcat.spec
@@ -540,9 +540,13 @@ ln -sf %{_sbindir}/d%{name} %{buildroot}/%{bindir}/catalina.sh
 
 # Install update-alternatives content
 mkdir -p %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/alternatives
+touch %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/alternatives/el_api.jar
 ln -sf %{_sysconfdir}/alternatives/el_api.jar %{buildroot}%{_javadir}/el_api.jar
+touch %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/alternatives/el_1_0_api.jar
 ln -sf %{_sysconfdir}/alternatives/el_1_0_api.jar %{buildroot}%{_javadir}/el_1_0_api.jar
+touch %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/alternatives/jsp.jar
 ln -sf %{_sysconfdir}/alternatives/jsp.jar %{buildroot}%{_javadir}/jsp.jar
+touch %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/alternatives/servlet.jar
 ln -sf %{_sysconfdir}/alternatives/servlet.jar %{buildroot}%{_javadir}/servlet.jar
 
 %pre