diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index b7897b452..45a880765 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -41,13 +41,13 @@ AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS(guile-readline)
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(debug-freelist,
-  [  --enable-debug-freelist  include garbage collector freelist debugging code],
+  [  --enable-debug-freelist include garbage collector freelist debugging code],
   if test "$enable_debug_freelist" = y || test "$enable_debug_freelist" = yes; then
     AC_DEFINE(GUILE_DEBUG_FREELIST)
   fi)
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(debug-malloc,
-  [  --enable-debug-malloc    include malloc debugging code],
+  [  --enable-debug-malloc   include malloc debugging code],
   if test "$enable_debug_malloc" = y || test "$enable_debug_malloc" = yes; then
     AC_DEFINE(GUILE_DEBUG_MALLOC)
   fi)
@@ -96,6 +96,18 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(htmldoc,
 
 AM_CONDITIONAL(HTMLDOC, test x$htmldoc_enabled = xyes)
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(deprecated,
+  [  --disable-deprecated    omit deprecated features [no]])
+
+if test "$enable_deprecated" = no; then
+  AC_DEFINE(SCM_DEBUG_DEPRECATED)
+else
+  if test "$enable_deprecated" = yes || test "$enable_deprecated" = ""; then
+    enable_deprecated=summary
+  fi
+  AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED_DEFAULT, "$enable_deprecated")
+fi
+
 dnl The --disable-debug used to control these two.  But now they are
 dnl a required part of the distribution.
 AC_DEFINE(DEBUG_EXTENSIONS)