diff --git a/zbar.spec b/zbar.spec
index b9ff2e0..465af3b 100644
--- a/zbar.spec
+++ b/zbar.spec
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ BuildRequires:  ImageMagick-devel libqt4-devel gtk2-devel python-gtk-devel
 # required by mercurial archive only
 BuildRequires:  xmlto
 BuildRequires:  autoconf
+BuildRequires:  automake
 Source:         %{name}-%{version}.tar.bz2
 BuildRoot:      %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-build
 AutoReqProv:    on