diff --git a/examples/Makefile.am b/examples/Makefile.am
index 22911e903e8bbf8265d712185f41de2bf4f53553..1fedca0c3847c3e4d7942de09cbf409bcd69b8c6 100644
--- a/examples/Makefile.am
+++ b/examples/Makefile.am
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 MYFLAGS = -DTIMER
 
 # Add the source directory and debug to CFLAGS
-AM_CFLAGS = -I../src $(HDF5_CPPFLAGS)
+AM_CFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/src $(HDF5_CPPFLAGS)
 
 AM_LDFLAGS = $(HDF5_LDFLAGS)
 
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index bc263d6fb0b2a8378e26a3627cf26204c7b09bb4..1f776a6af27c79997cd872c23905a549c9ba4684 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -92,12 +92,12 @@ version_string.h: version_string.h.in $(AM_SOURCES) $(include_HEADERS) $(noinst_
 	    GIT_BRANCH=`$(GIT_CMD) branch | sed -n 's/^\* \(.*\)/\1/p'`; \
 	    sed -e "s,@PACKAGE_VERSION\@,$(PACKAGE_VERSION)," \
 	        -e "s,@GIT_REVISION\@,$${GIT_REVISION}," \
-	        -e "s|@GIT_BRANCH\@|$${GIT_BRANCH}|" version_string.h.in > version_string.h; \
+	        -e "s|@GIT_BRANCH\@|$${GIT_BRANCH}|" $< > version_string.h; \
 	else \
 	    if test ! -f version_string.h; then \
 	        sed -e "s,@PACKAGE_VERSION\@,$(PACKAGE_VERSION)," \
 	            -e "s,@GIT_REVISION\@,unknown," \
-		    -e "s,@GIT_BRANCH\@,unknown," version_string.h.in > version_string.h; \
+		    -e "s,@GIT_BRANCH\@,unknown," $< > version_string.h; \
 	    fi; \
 	fi