diff -ur a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
--- a/configure.ac	2019-09-14 11:30:11.584847746 +0000
+++ b/configure.ac	2019-09-14 11:31:26.692355265 +0000
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@
 AC_PROG_CPP
 AC_PROG_INSTALL
 AC_PROG_RANLIB
+AC_CHECK_TOOL(AR, ar)
 # We need to check for cplusplus here because we may not do the test
 # for Qt and autoconf does does not allow that.
 AC_PROG_CXX
diff -ur a/pinentry/Makefile.in b/pinentry/Makefile.in
--- a/pinentry/Makefile.in	2017-12-03 17:43:23.000000000 +0000
+++ b/pinentry/Makefile.in	2019-09-14 11:32:02.532000236 +0000
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@
 CONFIG_CLEAN_FILES =
 CONFIG_CLEAN_VPATH_FILES =
 LIBRARIES = $(noinst_LIBRARIES)
-AR = ar
+AR = @AR@
 ARFLAGS = cru
 AM_V_AR = $(am__v_AR_@AM_V@)
 am__v_AR_ = $(am__v_AR_@AM_DEFAULT_V@)
diff -ur a/secmem/Makefile.in b/secmem/Makefile.in
--- a/secmem/Makefile.in	2017-12-03 17:43:23.000000000 +0000
+++ b/secmem/Makefile.in	2019-09-14 11:31:58.764934552 +0000
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@
 CONFIG_CLEAN_FILES =
 CONFIG_CLEAN_VPATH_FILES =
 LIBRARIES = $(noinst_LIBRARIES)
-AR = ar
+AR = @AR@
 ARFLAGS = cru
 AM_V_AR = $(am__v_AR_@AM_V@)
 am__v_AR_ = $(am__v_AR_@AM_DEFAULT_V@)