diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,6 +1,70 @@
-SUBDIRS = src
+ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
+
+
+AM_CPPFLAGS = -DSYSCONFDIR='"$(sysconfdir)"' \
+	-DLOCALSTATEDIR='"$(localstatedir)"' \
+	-I$(top_srcdir)/src
+AM_CFLAGS = $(DISTLIBS_CFLAGS)
+LIBS = $(DISTLIBS_LDADD) $(DISTLIBS_LDFLAGS)
+LDADD = libdistrencommon.la
+
+include_HEADERS = src/client/distren.h
+
+bin_PROGRAMS = distren
+if ENABLE_SERVER
+bin_PROGRAMS += distrend distrenslave
+endif
+
+lib_LTLIBRARIES = libdistren.la
+pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = libdistrencommon.la
+
+# libdistrencommon.la:
+libdistrencommon_la_SOURCES = src/common/options.c \
+	src/common/options.h \
+	src/common/execio.h \
+	src/common/execio.c \
+	src/common/remoteio.h \
+	src/common/libremoteio.h \
+	src/common/remoteio.c \
+	src/common/asprintf.h \
+	src/common/asprintf.c
+#see http://sources.redhat.com/autobook/autobook/autobook_91.html
+# either increase the revision number or the interface number each release!
+libdistrencommon_la_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) -version-info 0:0:0
 
-ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
+# libdistren.la:
+libdistren_la_SOURCES = $(include_HEADERS) \
+	src/client/libdistren.h \
+	src/client/libdistren.c \
+	src/client/libdistren_job.c \
+	src/client/libdistren_unbias.c \
+	src/client/libdistren_config.c
+libdistren_la_LIBADD = libdistrencommon.la
+libdistren_la_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) -version-info 0:0:0
+
+# distren:
+distren_SOURCES = src/client/distren.c
+distren_LDADD = libdistren.la
+
+# shared server sources:
+SERVER_SOURCES = src/server/slavefuncs.c \
+	src/server/slavefuncs.h \
+	src/server/distrenjob.c \
+	src/server/distrenjob.h
+# distrend:
+distrend_SOURCES = $(SERVER_SOURCES) \
+	src/server/distrend.c \
+	src/server/distrend.h \
+	src/server/user_mgr.c \
+	src/server/user_mgr.h \
+	src/server/listen.h \
+	src/server/listen.c
+distrend_LDADD = libdistrencommon.la
+# distrenslave:
+distrenslave_SOURCES = $(SERVER_SOURCES) \
+	src/server/slave.c
+distrenslave_LDADD = libdistrencommon.la
+
 
 
 # configuration files:
@@ -10,3 +74,16 @@ nodist_sysconf_DATA = etc/distrendaemon.
 	etc/distrenslave.conf
 EXTRA_DIST = etc/distrendaemon.conf.in \
 	etc/distrenslave.conf.in
+
+
+# tests
+TESTS=test/check_execio test/check_asprintf
+check_PROGRAMS=$(TESTS)
+
+#check_execio_LIBS = $(CHECK_LIBS)
+#check_asprintf_LIBS = $(CHECK_LIBS)
+test_check_execio_LDADD = $(CHECK_LIBS) src/libdistrencommon.la
+test_check_asprintf_LDADD = $(CHECK_LIBS) src/libdistrencommon.la
+test_check_execio_CFLAGS = $(AM_CFLAGS) $(CHECK_CFLAGS)
+test_check_asprintf_CFLAGS = $(AM_CFLAGS) $(CHECK_CFLAGS)
+
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
 #AC_PROG_RANLIB #don't add this even if autoscan says to, because AC_PROG_LIBTOOL is enough
 
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([gnu dist-bzip2 subdir-objects -Wall])
 AM_PROG_CC_C_O
 
 #basic low-level checks (suggested by autoscan)
@@ -68,8 +68,6 @@ AC_DEFINE_DIR([LOCALSTATEDIR], [localsta
 AC_DEFINE_DIR([RUNSTATEDIR], [localstatedir/run], [Default directory for registering runtime information like pid-files])
 
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile
-src/Makefile
-src/tests/Makefile
 etc/distrendaemon.conf
 etc/distrenslave.conf
 ])
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
deleted file mode 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,69 +0,0 @@
-
-SUBDIRS = . tests
-
-AM_CPPFLAGS = -DSYSCONFDIR='"$(sysconfdir)"' \
-	-DLOCALSTATEDIR='"$(localstatedir)"' \
-	-I. -I$(top_srcdir)/src/common
-AM_CFLAGS = $(DISTLIBS_CFLAGS)
-AM_LDFLAGS = $(DISTLIBS_LDFLAGS)
-# LIBS, LDFLAGS, Huh!?
-LIBS = $(DISTLIBS_LDADD)
-LDADD = libdistrencommon.la
-
-include_HEADERS = client/distren.h
-
-bin_PROGRAMS = distren
-if ENABLE_SERVER
-bin_PROGRAMS += distrend distrenslave
-endif
-
-lib_LTLIBRARIES = libdistren.la
-pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = libdistrencommon.la
-
-# libdistrencommon.la:
-libdistrencommon_la_SOURCES = common/options.c \
-	common/options.h \
-	common/execio.h \
-	common/execio.c \
-	common/remoteio.h \
-	common/libremoteio.h \
-	common/remoteio.c \
-	common/asprintf.h \
-	common/asprintf.c
-#see http://sources.redhat.com/autobook/autobook/autobook_91.html
-# either increase the revision number or the interface number each release!
-libdistrencommon_la_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) -version-info 0:0:0
-
-# libdistren.la:
-libdistren_la_SOURCES = $(include_HEADERS) \
-	client/libdistren.h \
-	client/libdistren.c \
-	client/libdistren_job.c \
-	client/libdistren_unbias.c \
-	client/libdistren_config.c
-libdistren_la_LIBADD = libdistrencommon.la
-libdistren_la_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) -version-info 0:0:0
-
-# distren:
-distren_SOURCES = client/distren.c
-distren_LDADD = libdistren.la
-
-# shared server sources:
-SERVER_SOURCES = server/slavefuncs.c \
-	server/slavefuncs.h \
-	server/distrenjob.c \
-	server/distrenjob.h
-# distrend:
-distrend_SOURCES = $(SERVER_SOURCES) \
-	server/distrend.c \
-	server/distrend.h \
-	server/user_mgr.c \
-	server/user_mgr.h \
-	server/listen.h \
-	server/listen.c
-distrend_LDADD = libdistrencommon.la
-# distrenslave:
-distrenslave_SOURCES = $(SERVER_SOURCES) \
-	server/slave.c
-distrenslave_LDADD = libdistrencommon.la
-
diff --git a/src/client/libdistren_config.c b/src/client/libdistren_config.c
--- a/src/client/libdistren_config.c
+++ b/src/client/libdistren_config.c
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@
   Functions and code for retrieving the client's configuration information.
  */
 
-#include "libdistren.h"
-#include "options.h"
+#include "client/libdistren.h"
+#include "common/options.h"
 
 /**
 @todo Stub
diff --git a/src/server/distrend.c b/src/server/distrend.c
--- a/src/server/distrend.c
+++ b/src/server/distrend.c
@@ -20,14 +20,15 @@
 
 /* This file contains the code which both processes (renders) jobs as a slave, and the code which distributes frames to slaves after receiving them from the client portion of the codebase. */
 
-#include "asprintf.h"
 #include "distrenjob.h"
-#include "execio.h"
 #include "listen.h"
-#include "options.h"
-#include "protocol.h"
 #include "slavefuncs.h"
 
+#include "common/asprintf.h"
+#include "common/execio.h"
+#include "common/options.h"
+#include "common/protocol.h"
+
 #include <confuse.h>
 #include <malloc.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
diff --git a/src/server/distrenjob.c b/src/server/distrenjob.c
--- a/src/server/distrenjob.c
+++ b/src/server/distrenjob.c
@@ -17,10 +17,11 @@
   along with DistRen.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
 
-#include "asprintf.h"
 #include "distrenjob.h"
 #include "slavefuncs.h"
 
+#include "common/asprintf.h"
+
 #include <libxml/parser.h>
 #include <libxml/tree.h>
 #include <libxml/xmlwriter.h>
diff --git a/src/server/slave.c b/src/server/slave.c
--- a/src/server/slave.c
+++ b/src/server/slave.c
@@ -18,12 +18,13 @@
 
 */
 
-#include "asprintf.h"
-#include "protocol.h"
-#include "options.h"
-#include "remoteio.h"
 #include "slavefuncs.h"
 
+#include "common/asprintf.h"
+#include "common/options.h"
+#include "common/protocol.h"
+#include "common/remoteio.h"
+
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
diff --git a/src/server/slavefuncs.c b/src/server/slavefuncs.c
--- a/src/server/slavefuncs.c
+++ b/src/server/slavefuncs.c
@@ -17,13 +17,14 @@
   along with DistRen.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
 
-#include "asprintf.h"
 #include "distrenjob.h"
-#include "execio.h"
-#include "protocol.h"
-#include "remoteio.h"
 #include "slavefuncs.h"
 
+#include "common/asprintf.h"
+#include "common/execio.h"
+#include "common/protocol.h"
+#include "common/remoteio.h"
+
 #include <curl/curl.h>
 #include <curl/easy.h>
 #include <curl/types.h>
diff --git a/src/server/slavefuncs.h b/src/server/slavefuncs.h
--- a/src/server/slavefuncs.h
+++ b/src/server/slavefuncs.h
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@
 #define _DISTREN_SLAVEFUNCS_H
 
 #include "distrenjob.h"
-#include "remoteio.h"
+
+#include "common/remoteio.h"
 
 #include <libxml/xpath.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
diff --git a/src/server/user_mgr.c b/src/server/user_mgr.c
--- a/src/server/user_mgr.c
+++ b/src/server/user_mgr.c
@@ -17,9 +17,18 @@
   along with DistRen.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
 
-#include "asprintf.h"
 #include "user_mgr.h"
 
+#include "common/asprintf.h"
+
+
+#include <libxml/xmlmemory.h>
+#include <libxml/parser.h>
+#include <libxml/tree.h>
+#include <libxml/encoding.h>
+#include <libxml/xmlwriter.h>
+#include <libxml/xmlreader.h>
+
 #include <malloc.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
@@ -27,13 +36,6 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 
-#include <libxml/xmlmemory.h>
-#include <libxml/parser.h>
-#include <libxml/tree.h>
-#include <libxml/encoding.h>
-#include <libxml/xmlwriter.h>
-#include <libxml/xmlreader.h>
-
 struct user_mgr_info
 {
 	struct user *user_array;
diff --git a/src/tests/Makefile.am b/src/tests/Makefile.am
deleted file mode 100644
--- a/src/tests/Makefile.am
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-TESTS=check_execio check_asprintf
-
-LIBS = $(CHECK_LIBS)
-LDADD = $(top_builddir)/src/libdistrencommon.la
-
-check_PROGRAMS=$(TESTS)
-AM_CFLAGS = $(CHECK_CFLAGS) -I$(top_builddir)/src/common
diff --git a/src/tests/check_asprintf.c b/test/check_asprintf.c
rename from src/tests/check_asprintf.c
rename to test/check_asprintf.c
--- a/src/tests/check_asprintf.c
+++ b/test/check_asprintf.c
@@ -17,12 +17,12 @@
   along with DistRen.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
 
-#include "asprintf.h"
+#include "common/asprintf.h"
 
 #include <check.h>
 #include <string.h>
 
-START_TEST (asprintf)
+START_TEST (check_asprintf)
 {
   /* tere _must_ be a better way to test this... */
   char *teststring = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
diff --git a/src/tests/check_execio.c b/test/check_execio.c
rename from src/tests/check_execio.c
rename to test/check_execio.c
--- a/src/tests/check_execio.c
+++ b/test/check_execio.c
@@ -17,11 +17,11 @@
   along with DistRen.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
 
-#include "execio.h"
+#include "common/execio.h"
 
 #include <check.h>
 
-START_TEST (execio)
+START_TEST (check_execio)
 {
   struct execio *eio;
   char *echoargv[] =