diff --git a/config/ac-macros/sanity.m4 b/config/ac-macros/sanity.m4
deleted file mode 100644
index 3904bdd983fb76fbbd2537f03aca92b6d3fc3825..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/config/ac-macros/sanity.m4
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,63 +0,0 @@
-#
-# Check to make sure that the build environment is sane.
-#
-
-# Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-
-# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
-# any later version.
-
-# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
-# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
-# 02111-1307, USA.
-
-# serial 3
-
-# AM_SANITY_CHECK
-# ---------------
-AC_DEFUN([AM_SANITY_CHECK],
-[AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether build environment is sane])
-# Just in case
-sleep 1
-echo timestamp > conftest.file
-# Do `set' in a subshell so we don't clobber the current shell's
-# arguments.  Must try -L first in case configure is actually a
-# symlink; some systems play weird games with the mod time of symlinks
-# (eg FreeBSD returns the mod time of the symlink's containing
-# directory).
-if (
-   set X `ls -Lt $srcdir/configure conftest.file 2> /dev/null`
-   if test "$[*]" = "X"; then
-      # -L didn't work.
-      set X `ls -t $srcdir/configure conftest.file`
-   fi
-   rm -f conftest.file
-   if test "$[*]" != "X $srcdir/configure conftest.file" \
-      && test "$[*]" != "X conftest.file $srcdir/configure"; then
-
-      # If neither matched, then we have a broken ls.  This can happen
-      # if, for instance, CONFIG_SHELL is bash and it inherits a
-      # broken ls alias from the environment.  This has actually
-      # happened.  Such a system could not be considered "sane".
-      AC_MSG_ERROR([ls -t appears to fail.  Make sure there is not a broken
-alias in your environment])
-   fi
-
-   test "$[2]" = conftest.file
-   )
-then
-   # Ok.
-   :
-else
-   AC_MSG_ERROR([newly created file is older than distributed files!
-Check your system clock])
-fi
-AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)])
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 025d7d306b178546c3e5e2d60a0dfb64164d870e..5ca890a7df1e6dd55e2c2fc993c16a5c7f527f04 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -1,17 +1,11 @@
 dnl -*- ksh -*-
 dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 
-AC_PREREQ(2.12)dnl		Minimum Autoconf version required.
+AC_PREREQ(2.50)dnl		Minimum Autoconf version required.
 
 AC_INIT(sql/mysqld.cc)
 AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM
-# For some reason we have our own AM_SANITY_CHECK which is just a copy
-# of the default one included in 1.8 (it was from some version before
-# 1.4, but I updated it to fix a FreeBSD problem). It must be included
-# before we call AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. Don't forget to also update the 
-# NDB lines below.
-#  -Brian
-sinclude(config/ac-macros/sanity.m4)
+# Don't forget to also update the NDB lines below.
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(mysql, 5.0.3-alpha)
 AM_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h)