Index: auto/configure
===================================================================
--- auto/configure	(revision 4863)
+++ auto/configure	(working copy)
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@
 LC_ALL=C
 export LC_ALL
 
+if ! test -e auto; then
+  echo "No 'auto' subdir found, are you running this from the root dir?" && exit 1
+fi
+
 . auto/options
 . auto/init
 . auto/sources