diff --git a/SWIG/Tools/config/ac_compile_warnings.m4 b/SWIG/Tools/config/ac_compile_warnings.m4
index 4f7d9773d..4c030ea59 100644
--- a/SWIG/Tools/config/ac_compile_warnings.m4
+++ b/SWIG/Tools/config/ac_compile_warnings.m4
@@ -1,29 +1,56 @@
-dnl Available from the GNU Autoconf Macro Archive at:
-dnl http://www.gnu.org/software/ac-archive/htmldoc/ac_compile_warnings.html
+dnl @synopsis AC_COMPILE_WARNINGS
 dnl
-dnl Modified from original to increase the warning levels from -Wall
-AC_DEFUN([AC_COMPILE_WARNINGS],
-[AC_MSG_CHECKING(maximum warning verbosity option)
-if test -n "$CXX"
-then
-  if test "$GXX" = "yes"
-  then
-    ac_compile_warnings_opt='-Wall -ansi -pedantic'
-  fi
-  CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS $ac_compile_warnings_opt"
-  ac_compile_warnings_msg="$ac_compile_warnings_opt for C++"
-fi
+dnl Set the maximum warning verbosity according to C and C++ compiler used.
+dnl Currently supports g++ and gcc.
+dnl
+dnl The compiler options are always added CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS even if
+dnl these are overidden at configure time. Removing the maximum warning
+dnl flags can be removed with --without-maximum-compile-warnings. For example:
+dnl
+dnl   ./configure --without-maximum-compile-warnings CFLAGS= CXXFLAGS=
+dnl
+dnl @category Misc
+dnl @author Loic Dachary <loic@senga.org>
+dnl @author William Fulton <wsf@fultondesigns.co.uk>
+dnl @version 2005-04-29
+dnl @license GPLWithACException
 
-if test -n "$CC"
-then
-  if test "$GCC" = "yes"
+AC_DEFUN([AC_COMPILE_WARNINGS], [
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([maximum warning verbosity option])
+  AC_REQUIRE([AC_PROG_CC])
+  AC_REQUIRE([AC_PROG_CXX])
+
+  AC_ARG_WITH([maximum-compile-warnings], 
+              AS_HELP_STRING([--without-maximum-compile-warnings],
+                             [Disable maximum warning verbosity]),
+              [ac_compile_warnings_on="$withval"],
+              [ac_compile_warnings_on=""])
+
+  if test x"$ac_compile_warnings_on" = xno
   then
-    ac_compile_warnings_opt='-Wall -ansi -pedantic'
+    ac_compile_warnings_msg=no
+  else
+    if test -n "$CXX"
+    then
+      if test "$GXX" = "yes"
+      then
+        ac_compile_warnings_opt='-Wall -W -ansi -pedantic'
+      fi
+      CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS $ac_compile_warnings_opt"
+      ac_compile_warnings_msg="$ac_compile_warnings_opt for C++"
+    fi
+
+  if test -n "$CC"
+  then
+    if test "$GCC" = "yes"
+    then
+      ac_compile_warnings_opt='-Wall -W -ansi -pedantic'
+    fi
+    CFLAGS="$CFLAGS $ac_compile_warnings_opt"
+    ac_compile_warnings_msg="$ac_compile_warnings_msg $ac_compile_warnings_opt for C"
   fi
-  CFLAGS="$CFLAGS $ac_compile_warnings_opt"
-  ac_compile_warnings_msg="$ac_compile_warnings_msg $ac_compile_warnings_opt for C"
-fi
-AC_MSG_RESULT($ac_compile_warnings_msg)
-unset ac_compile_warnings_msg
-unset ac_compile_warnings_opt
+  fi
+  AC_MSG_RESULT([$ac_compile_warnings_msg])
+  unset ac_compile_warnings_msg
+  unset ac_compile_warnings_opt
 ])