diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f1c5b04..13f4ce6 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -994,7 +994,7 @@ if test "`uname`" = "Linux"; then
 	GCC_DOCKER_LINTFLAGS='-syntax'
 	AC_SUBST(GCC_DOCKER_LINTFLAGS)
 fi
-AX_BUILD_DATE_EPOCH(CONFIG_DATE, [%Y%m%d])
+CONFIG_DATE=20000101
 AC_ARG_VAR(SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH, [If it is set, it uses the value of that variable instead of the current time as the build timestamp. The format is a unix timestamp. This enables reproducible build output.])
 AC_SUBST(CONFIG_DATE)
 
@@ -2559,7 +2559,7 @@ char *unbound_stat_strdup_log(const char *s, const char* file, int line,
 dnl if we build from source tree, the man pages need @date@ and @version@
 dnl if this is a distro tarball, that was already done by makedist.sh
 AC_SUBST(version, [VERSION_MAJOR.VERSION_MINOR.VERSION_MICRO])
-AX_BUILD_DATE_EPOCH(date, [[%b %e, %Y]])
+date='Jan 1, 2000'
 AC_SUBST(date)
 
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile doc/example.conf doc/libunbound.3 doc/unbound.8 doc/unbound-anchor.8 doc/unbound-checkconf.8 doc/unbound.conf.5 doc/unbound-control.8 doc/unbound-host.1 smallapp/unbound-control-setup.sh dnstap/dnstap_config.h dnscrypt/dnscrypt_config.h contrib/libunbound.pc contrib/unbound.socket contrib/unbound.service contrib/unbound_portable.service])