diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index a730ffe600..f77a160493 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 ${ACLOCAL_FLAGS}
 AM_MAKEFLAGS = --no-print-directory
+AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = color-tests
 
 SUBDIRS = . po
 
diff --git a/docs/gudev/Makefile.am b/docs/gudev/Makefile.am
index 57334b6ddc..26c8652b0a 100644
--- a/docs/gudev/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/gudev/Makefile.am
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ## Process this file with automake to produce Makefile.in
 
 # We require automake 1.10 at least.
-AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = 1.10
+AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = 1.10 color-tests
 
 # This is a blank Makefile.am for using gtk-doc.
 # Copy this to your project's API docs directory and modify the variables to
diff --git a/docs/libudev/Makefile.am b/docs/libudev/Makefile.am
index c6d7b8ca25..87196e8586 100644
--- a/docs/libudev/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/libudev/Makefile.am
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ## Process this file with automake to produce Makefile.in
 
 # We require automake 1.10 at least.
-AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = 1.10
+AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = 1.10 color-tests
 
 # This is a blank Makefile.am for using gtk-doc.
 # Copy this to your project's API docs directory and modify the variables to