diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 9a113ea7..420dfeeb 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ awesome_SOURCES += $(WIDGETS)
 awesome_LDADD = $(XFT_LIBS) $(X_LIBS) $(CAIRO_LIBS) $(CONFUSE_LIBS) $(XRANDR_LIBS) $(XINERAMA_LIBS)
 
 bin_PROGRAMS += awesome-client
+AM_INSTALLCHECK_STD_OPTIONS_EXEMPT = awesome-client$(EXEEXT)
 awesome_client_SOURCES = \
 	awesome-client.c awesome-client.h \
 	awesome-client-common.c \
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 266f7a1c..901a4435 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -14,13 +14,13 @@ dnl The AC_CONFIG_HEADER and awesome's own config.h are different beasts
 dnl AC_CONFIG_HEADER([config.h])
 dnl Other options:
 dnl    check-news   to check that NEWS has been adapted to current version
-dnl    std-options  make sure shipped executables understand --help and --version
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([
 -Wall -Werror
 1.10
 dist-bzip2
 filename-length-max=99
 foreign
+std-options
 subdir-objects
 ])