diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e97c7a699..059742232 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.10 -Wall -Wno-portability foreign])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
 AX_PREFIX_CONFIG_H(linbox/config.h, __LINBOX)
 
+# symlinks to matrix files for the testsuite
+AC_CONFIG_LINKS([tests/data/sms.matrix:tests/data/sms.matrix])
+AC_CONFIG_LINKS([tests/data/30_30_27.sms:tests/data/30_30_27.sms])
+AC_CONFIG_LINKS([tests/data/fib25.sms:tests/data/fib25.sms])
+
 AM_PROG_AR
 
 AM_ACLOCAL_INCLUDE(macros)