diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index c103885..43dadcf 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 - review and fix master map options update for map reload.
 - fix "-fstype=nfs4" handling.
 - fix get_query_dn not looking in subtree for LDAP search.
+- allow syntax "--timeout <secs>" for backward compatibility.
 
 1/9/2006 autofs-5.0.1 rc2
 -------------------------
diff --git a/lib/master_tok.l b/lib/master_tok.l
index 0903bcd..a70b533 100644
--- a/lib/master_tok.l
+++ b/lib/master_tok.l
@@ -102,6 +102,9 @@ DNNAMESTR	([[:alnum:]_.\-]+)
 INTMAP		(-hosts|-null)
 MTYPE           ((file|program|yp|nis|nisplus|ldap|hesiod|userdir)(,(sun|hesiod))?)
 
+
+OPTTOUT		(-t{OPTWS}|-t{OPTWS}={OPTWS}|--timeout{OPTWS}|--timeout{OPTWS}={OPTWS})
+
 %%
 
 <INITIAL>{
@@ -300,9 +303,7 @@ MTYPE           ((file|program|yp|nis|ni
 <OPTSTR>{
 	{OPTWS}\\\n{OPTWS} {}
 
-	-t{OPTWS}|-t{OPTWS}={OPTWS}|--timeout{OPTWS}={OPTWS} {
-		return(OPT_TIMEOUT);
-	}
+	{OPTTOUT} { return(OPT_TIMEOUT); }
 
 	-D{OPTWS}