diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 7f09c1d9..48e21de7 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -34,6 +34,12 @@ install:
   - >
     test "$dbus_ci_host" != mingw || sudo apt-get -qq -y install
     binutils-mingw-w64-i686 g++-mingw-w64-i686 wine:i386
+  # Ubuntu 14.04's autoconf-archive is too old
+  - >
+    wget
+    http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/pool/main/a/autoconf-archive/autoconf-archive_20150925-1_all.deb
+  - 'sudo dpkg -i autoconf-archive_*_all.deb'
+  - 'rm autoconf-archive_*_all.deb'
 script:
   # python-dbus and python-gi aren't available to Travis's version of
   # Python in /opt, which it uses as a default
diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 91d4b09d..6de735f0 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -81,7 +81,10 @@ $ACLOCAL -I m4 $ACLOCAL_FLAGS
 (autoheader --version)  < /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1 && autoheader
 
 $AUTOMAKE -a $am_opt
-autoconf || echo "autoconf failed - version 2.5x is probably required"
+if ! autoconf; then
+  echo "autoconf failed - version 2.5x is probably required" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
 
 cd $ORIGDIR