diff --git a/changes/bug12693 b/changes/bug12693
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..11dfe78a2fa96c1c498f7155dc7ae32770bc4519
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/bug12693
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+  o Build fixes:
+    - Allow our configure script to build correctly with autoconf 2.62
+      again. Fixes bug 12693; bugfix on 0.2.5.2-alpha.
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c37f15422252ff25b20c693bdaaedc39bbf13f1f..55777e7b1b04f9d29cf5a3b08fa0b7a2362cfe07 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -626,11 +626,12 @@ if test x$enable_gcc_hardening != xno; then
     TOR_CHECK_CFLAGS(-fstack-protector-all, also_link)
     AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([can_compile], [tor_cv_cflags_-fstack-protector-all])
     AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([can_link], [tor_can_link_-fstack-protector-all])
+m4_ifdef([AS_VAR_IF],[
     AS_VAR_IF(can_compile, [yes],
         AS_VAR_IF(can_link, [yes],
                   [],
                   AC_MSG_ERROR([We tried to build with stack protection; it looks like your compiler supports it but your libc does not provide it. Are you missing libssp? (You can --disable-gcc-hardening to ignore this error.)]))
-        )
+        )])
     AS_VAR_POPDEF([can_link])
     AS_VAR_POPDEF([can_compile])
     TOR_CHECK_CFLAGS(-Wstack-protector)