diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 69077f80a..930a30733 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = gnu 1.6
 # make sure we pass the correct jimtcl flags to distcheck
 DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = --disable-install-jim
 
+# do not run Jim Tcl tests (esp. during distcheck)
+check-recursive:
+	@true
+
 nobase_dist_pkgdata_DATA = \
 	contrib/libdcc/dcc_stdio.c \
 	contrib/libdcc/dcc_stdio.h \
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f7deae494..5630b1116 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -550,7 +550,7 @@ AS_IF([test "x$build_buspirate" = "xyes"], [
 
 AS_IF([test "x$use_internal_jimtcl" = "xyes"], [
   AS_IF([test -f "$srcdir/jimtcl/configure.ac"], [
-    AX_CONFIG_SUBDIR_OPTION([jimtcl], [--disable-install-jim])
+    AX_CONFIG_SUBDIR_OPTION([jimtcl], [--disable-install-jim --with-ext="eventloop array clock regexp stdlib tclcompat" --without-ext="default"])
   ], [
     AC_MSG_ERROR([jimtcl not found, run git submodule init and git submodule update.])
   ])
diff --git a/jimtcl b/jimtcl
index 51f65c6d3..a9bf5975f 160000
--- a/jimtcl
+++ b/jimtcl
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 51f65c6d38fbf86e1f0b036ad336761fd2ab7fa0
+Subproject commit a9bf5975fd0f89974d689a2d9ebd0873c8d64787