diff --git a/lib/autoconf/status.m4 b/lib/autoconf/status.m4
index 536f627d..1f1ec5f9 100644
--- a/lib/autoconf/status.m4
+++ b/lib/autoconf/status.m4
@@ -582,7 +582,7 @@ uniq confdefs.h |
 echo '[s,^[	 #]*u.*,/* & */,]' >>conftest.defines
 
 # Break up conftest.defines:
-ac_max_sed_lines=m4_expr(_AC_SED_CMD_LIMIT - 3)
+ac_max_sed_lines=m4_eval(_AC_SED_CMD_LIMIT - 3)
 
 # First sed command is:	 sed -f defines.sed $ac_file_inputs >"$tmp/out1"
 # Second one is:	 sed -f defines.sed "$tmp/out1" >"$tmp/out2"