diff --git a/subversion/configure.ac b/subversion/configure.ac
index 4ed66d4..a8d249c 100644
--- a/subversion/configure.ac
+++ b/subversion/configure.ac
@@ -209,21 +209,16 @@ AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(SVN_LOCALE_DIR, "${svn_localedir}",
                    [Defined to be the path to the installed locale dirs])
 
 dnl Check for libtool -- we'll definitely need it for all our shared libs!
-AC_MSG_NOTICE([configuring libtool now])
-ifdef([LT_INIT], [LT_INIT], [AC_PROG_LIBTOOL])
-AC_ARG_ENABLE(experimental-libtool,
-  AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-experimental-libtool],[Use APR's libtool]),
-  [experimental_libtool=$enableval],[experimental_libtool=no])
-
-if test "$experimental_libtool" = "yes"; then
-  echo "using APR's libtool"
-  sh_libtool="`$apr_config --apr-libtool`"
-  LIBTOOL="$sh_libtool"
-  SVN_LIBTOOL="$sh_libtool"
-else
-  sh_libtool="$abs_builddir/libtool"
-  SVN_LIBTOOL="\$(SHELL) \"$sh_libtool\""
-fi
+AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
+AC_ARG_WITH(custom-libtool,
+AS_HELP_STRING([--with-custom-libtool=PATH],
+               [Specify the command to run libtool]),
+               [ AC_MSG_NOTICE([using $withval as libtool])
+                 sh_libtool="$withval" ],
+               [ AC_MSG_NOTICE([using APR's libtool])
+                 sh_libtool="`$apr_config --apr-libtool`" ])
+LIBTOOL="$sh_libtool"
+SVN_LIBTOOL="$sh_libtool"
 AC_SUBST(SVN_LIBTOOL)
 
 dnl Determine the libtool version