diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index c383755c..8b613409 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2005-07-01  Paul Eggert  <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>
+
+	* lib/autoconf/general.m4 (_AC_INIT_DIRCHECK): Remove the tests for
+	directories with weird names.  Apparently some people like living
+	on the edge.  However, improve the test that "pwd" actually does
+	report a name for the working directory.
+	* NEWS: Remove the claim that we test for funny chars in dir names.
+
 2005-06-30  Stepan Kasal  <kasal@ucw.cz>
 
 	* doc/autoconf.texi (Configuration Headers): Change the explanation
@@ -16,7 +24,7 @@
 	Likewise for --header; moreover, recognize --he and --h as shortcuts
 	for --help in that case.
 
-2005-06-30  Ralf Wildenhues  <Ralf.Wildenhues@gmx.de> 
+2005-06-30  Ralf Wildenhues  <Ralf.Wildenhues@gmx.de>
 
 	* lib/autoconf/fortran.m4 (_AC_PROG_FC_V_OUTPUT): Fix also for
 	single-quoted -cmdline argument in Portland Group compiler.
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index e7f66f84..ee4b6ee4 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59c
 
-** The configure command now diagnoses attempts to use a working or source
-  directory whose name contains a special character like space, newline, or "\".
-  Such names are not supported, and can cause "configure" to crash.
-
 ** The configure command now redirects standard input from /dev/null,
   to help avoid problems with subsidiary commands that might mistakenly
   read standard input.  AS_ORIGINAL_STDIN_FD points to the original
diff --git a/lib/autoconf/general.m4 b/lib/autoconf/general.m4
index 7a21bde5..3f333eae 100644
--- a/lib/autoconf/general.m4
+++ b/lib/autoconf/general.m4
@@ -450,38 +450,13 @@ AC_DEFUN([AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR],
 m4_define([_AC_INIT_DIRCHECK],
 [m4_divert_push([PARSE_ARGS])dnl
 
-ac_pwd=`pwd` && test -n "$ac_pwd" ||
+ac_pwd=`pwd` && test -n "$ac_pwd" &&
+ac_ls_di=`ls -di .` &&
+ac_pwd_ls_di=`cd "$ac_pwd" && ls -di .` ||
   AC_MSG_ERROR([Working directory cannot be determined])
+test "X$ac_ls_di" = "X$ac_pwd_ls_di" ||
+  AC_MSG_ERROR([pwd does not report name of working directory])
 
-ac_pat="[[\$][{][_$as_cr_Letters][_$as_cr_alnum]*[}]]"
-ac_pat1='*[)]*'
-
-for ac_var in ac_pwd srcdir
-do
-  # Remove references to shell or make variables.
-  eval ac_dir=\$$ac_var
-  ac_dirx=$ac_dir
-  while :
-  do
-    case $ac_dirx in
-    *\${*}*)
-      ac_dirx=`
-	expr "X$ac_dirx" : "X\\(.*\\)$ac_pat"`X`
-	expr "X$ac_dirx" : "X.*$ac_pat\\(.*\\)"`;;
-    *) break;;
-    esac
-  done
-
-  # Check for newline, tab, space, and other weird possibilities.
-  # Preserve that tab character below!
-  case $ac_dirx in
-  '' | -* | */-* | *'
-'* | *'	'* | *' '* | *\"* | *\#* | *\$* | *\&* | *\'* | *\(* | $ac_pat1 | \
-  *\** | *\;* | *\<* | *\=* | *\>* | *\?* | *\@<:@* | *\\* | *\`* | \
-  *\|* | \~*)
-    AC_MSG_ERROR([$ac_var directory name `$ac_dir' has special characters]);;
-  esac
-done
 m4_divert_pop([PARSE_ARGS])dnl
 ])# _AC_INIT_DIRCHECK
 
@@ -512,7 +487,9 @@ fi
 dnl Remove unnecessary trailing slashes from srcdir.
 dnl Double slashes in file names in object file debugging info
 dnl mess up M-x gdb in Emacs.
-srcdir=`echo "$srcdir" | sed 's%\([[^/]]\)/*$%\1%'`
+case $srcdir in
+*/) srcdir=`expr "X$srcdir" : 'X\(.*[[^/]]\)' \| "X$srcdir" : 'X\(.*\)'`;;
+esac
 m4_divert_pop([PARSE_ARGS])dnl
 ])# _AC_INIT_SRCDIR