--- a/otp_build
+++ b/otp_build
@@ -200,17 +200,18 @@
     export AUTOCONF_VERSION="$USE_AUTOCONF_VERSION"
     ac_ver_blob=`autoconf --version`
     if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-	echo "ERROR: Failed to check autoconf version! You need to have autoconf of version $USE_AUTOCONF_VERSION in path." 1>&2
+	echo "ERROR: Failed to check autoconf version! You need to have autoconf of version >= $USE_AUTOCONF_VERSION in path." 1>&2
 	exit 1
     fi
     ac_ver=`echo $ac_ver_blob | sed "s|[^0-9]*\([0-9][^ \t\n]*\).*|\1|"`
-    case $ac_ver in
-	$USE_AUTOCONF_VERSION)
-	    ;;
-	*)
-	    echo "ERROR: autoconf of version $ac_ver found in path! You need to have autoconf of version $USE_AUTOCONF_VERSION in path." 1>&2
-	    exit 1;;
-    esac
+    if [ $ac_ver = $USE_AUTOCONF_VERSION ] ; then
+        true
+    elif [ $ac_ver \> $USE_AUTOCONF_VERSION ] ; then
+        true
+    else
+        echo "ERROR: autoconf of version $ac_ver found in path! You need to have autoconf of version >= $USE_AUTOCONF_VERSION in path." 1>&2
+	exit 1
+    fi
     
     out_files=
 
