diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index e01d013dd..e3c00955f 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -106,6 +106,8 @@ compile Infer on a few Linux distributions.
 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get upgrade
 sudo apt-get install -y \
+  autoconf \
+  automake \
   build-essential \
   git \
   libgmp-dev \
@@ -125,6 +127,8 @@ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get upgrade
 sudo apt-get install -y \
+  autoconf \
+  automake \
   build-essential \
   g++-4.8 \
   gcc-4.8 \
@@ -148,8 +152,10 @@ Unfortunately, the version of opam that ships with some Linux
 distributions is broken, so you'll have to get it from the web:
 
 ```sh
-wget -O opam https://github.com/ocaml/opam/releases/download/1.2.2/opam-1.2.2-x86_64-Linux
-chmod +x opam
+wget https://github.com/ocaml/opam/releases/download/1.2.2/opam-1.2.2-x86_64-Linux
+chmod +x opam-1.2.2-x86_64-Linux
+sudo cp opam-1.2.2-x86_64-Linux /usr/local/bin/opam
+opam init --comp=4.02.3
 ```
 
 Alternatively, follow the instructions [from the opam
diff --git a/build-infer.sh b/build-infer.sh
index 28dc6353c..557f51e76 100755
--- a/build-infer.sh
+++ b/build-infer.sh
@@ -96,15 +96,19 @@ check_installed () {
 echo "initializing opam... "
 check_installed opam
 
-# opam is noisy
-opam init --no-setup --yes > /dev/null
+# if the first command doesn't succeed it means that ocaml is not even
+# installed on the system, so we have to pick a compiler version ourselves
+#
+# opam is noisy, so we silence the first invocation which typically would be a
+# no-op
+opam init --no-setup --yes > /dev/null || \
+  opam init --no-setup --yes --comp=4.02.3
+
 eval $(opam config env)
 
 echo "preparing build... "
 if [ ! -f .release ]; then
   ./autogen.sh > /dev/null
-elif [ ! -d .git ] && [ ! -f .release ]; then
-  git submodule update --init --recursive
 fi
 
 TARGETS=""
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f2c104659..524df9a67 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -149,7 +149,6 @@ AC_ASSERT_PROG([ocamlc], [$OCAMLC])
 AC_ASSERT_PROG([ocamlopt], [$OCAMLOPT])
 AC_ASSERT_PROG([ocamlbuild], [$OCAMLBUILD])
 AC_PROG_FINDLIB
-AC_ASSERT_PROG([ocamlfind], [$OCAMLFIND])
 AC_PROG_OCAMLLEX
 AC_ASSERT_PROG([ocamllex], [$OCAMLLEX])
 AC_PROG_OCAMLYACC
diff --git a/m4/ac_assert_ocaml_pkg.m4 b/m4/ac_assert_ocaml_pkg.m4
index d4c8fa9c9..4450e7ee3 100644
--- a/m4/ac_assert_ocaml_pkg.m4
+++ b/m4/ac_assert_ocaml_pkg.m4
@@ -9,16 +9,33 @@ dnl AC_ASSERT_OCAML_PKG([pkg_name], [pkg_version])
 dnl
 dnl fails if $pkg_name is not installed; also fails if it is not
 dnl installed at version $pkg_version if specified
+dnl
+dnl assumes that AC_PROG_FINDLIB has been called
 AC_DEFUN([AC_ASSERT_OCAML_PKG],
 [dnl
   AC_CHECK_OCAML_PKG_PATH([$1], [$2], [$3])
 
   unset has_pkg
   unset pkg
+  unset version
 
-  has_pkg=$AS_TR_SH[OCAML_PKG_$1]
+  AS_IF([test "$OCAMLFIND" = "no"], [dnl
+    # trick to detect if ocamlfind is correctly installed and give the
+    # right opam instructions to install it if not since they're the
+    # same as when any other opam package is missing.
+    has_pkg=no
+    pkg=ocamlfind
+    version=
+  ], [dnl
+    has_pkg=$AS_TR_SH[OCAML_PKG_$1]
+    pkg=$1
+    version=
+    AS_IF([test "x$3" = "x"], [dnl
+      version=" version $3"
+    ])
+  ])
   AS_IF([test "$has_pkg" = "no"], [dnl
-    AC_MSG_ERROR([missing dependency: $1$version.
+    AC_MSG_ERROR([missing dependency: $pkg$version.
 
 If you are using opam, please run