--- maxima-5.37.3.orig/configure.ac
+++ maxima-5.37.3/configure.ac
@@ -513,6 +513,17 @@
 	fi
 fi
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(emacs,
+	[  --enable-emacs               Emacs support],
+	[case "${enableval}" in
+		yes) enable_emacs=true  ;;
+		no)  enable_emacs=false ;;
+		*) AC_MSG_ERROR(bad value ${enableval} for --enable-emacs) ;;
+	esac],
+	[enable_emacs=true])
+
+AM_CONDITIONAL(WANT_EMACS, test x$enable_emacs = xtrue)
+
 dnl xgettext
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(gettext,
 	[  --enable-gettext             Locale support],
--- maxima-5.37.3.orig/interfaces/Makefile.am
+++ maxima-5.37.3/interfaces/Makefile.am
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
+if WANT_EMACS
+   MAYBE_EMACS = emacs
+endif
 if WANT_TK
    MAYBE_XMAXIMA = xmaxima
 endif
-SUBDIRS = emacs $(MAYBE_XMAXIMA)
+SUBDIRS = $(MAYBE_EMACS) $(MAYBE_XMAXIMA)
 EXTRA_DIST = bin/xmaxima.iss