title: Automake ignore missing NEWS/AUTHORS/COPYING/etc. standard files
body: <p>Automake requires that the following "standard" files exist in the source directory of my project:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>INSTALL</li>
  <li>NEWS</li>
  <li>README</li>
  <li>COPYING</li>
  <li>AUTHORS</li>
  <li>ChangeLog</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Obviously, none of these files are necessary for a program to build, but Automake refuses to run without them. I know about the <code>--add-missing</code> flag that will cause boilerplate files to be generated, but I would rather not have the files at all. </p>
  
  <p>Is there a way to force Automake to run and ignore the missing files without generating them?</p>