diff --git a/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4 b/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4
index e3795b5..bc0fb7b 100644
--- a/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4
+++ b/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4
@@ -171,12 +171,13 @@ AC_DEFUN([AX_INIT_STANDARD_PROJECT], [
   AX_SUBST(NUMBERS)
   AX_SUBST(HOME)
   if test -f README.md; then
-    README=$()
+    README=$(tail -n +3 README.md)
     DESCRIPTION=$(head -1 README.md)
   else
     README=$(tail -n +3 README)
     DESCRIPTION=$(head -1 README)
   fi
+  README_ESCAPED=$(echo "$README" | sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/\n/\\n/g;s,",\\",g')
   if which pandoc 2>&1 > /dev/null; then   
     README_HTML=$(echo "$README" | pandoc -f markdown_github -t html | sed ':a;N;$!ba;s,\\\(.\),\\\\<span>\1</span>,g;s/\n/\\n/g;s,",\\",g;s,  ,\&nbsp;\&nbsp;,g')
   else
@@ -184,6 +185,8 @@ AC_DEFUN([AX_INIT_STANDARD_PROJECT], [
   fi
   AX_SUBST(README)
   _AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE([README])
+  AX_SUBST(README_ESCAPED)
+  _AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE([README_ESCAPED])
   AX_SUBST(README_HTML)
   _AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE([README_HTML])
   AX_SUBST(DESCRIPTION)
diff --git a/scripts/bootstrap.sh b/scripts/bootstrap.sh
index 0b8f192..9edc19e 100755
--- a/scripts/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/scripts/bootstrap.sh
@@ -529,7 +529,11 @@ ${DEFAULT_PROJECT_NAME}
 add description for ${DEFAULT_PROJECT_NAME}
 EOF
 to configure.ac <<EOF && notice "please edit configure.ac, then rerun $0" && exit 0
-${HEADER}m4_define(x_package_name, ${DEFAULT_PROJECT_NAME}) # project's name
+${HEADER}# default is generated from AUTHORS and project name
+PROJECT_URL=
+SOURCE_DOWNLOAD=
+
+m4_define(x_package_name, ${DEFAULT_PROJECT_NAME}) # project's name
 m4_define(x_major, 0) # project's major version
 m4_define(x_minor, 0) # project's minor version
 m4_include(ax_init_standard_project.m4)