diff --git a/srcpkgs/automake/template b/srcpkgs/automake/template
index 1726dacbf15..57e0bba7aef 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/automake/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/automake/template
@@ -12,3 +12,9 @@ license="GPL-2"
 homepage="https://www.gnu.org/software/automake"
 distfiles="${GNU_SITE}/$pkgname/$pkgname-$version.tar.xz"
 checksum=af6ba39142220687c500f79b4aa2f181d9b24e4f8d8ec497cea4ba26c64bedaf
+
+do_check() {
+	# taken from http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/development/chapter06/automake.html
+	sed -i "s:./configure:LEXLIB=/usr/lib/libfl.a &:" t/lex-{clean,depend}-cxx.sh
+	make -j4 check
+}