diff --git a/common.mk b/common.mk
index 9bf427e0..a9d16618 100644
--- a/common.mk
+++ b/common.mk
@@ -60,7 +60,6 @@ CFLAGS += $(call cflags_for_lib, libpcre)
 CFLAGS += $(call cflags_for_lib, libstartup-notification-1.0)
 CPPFLAGS += -DI3_VERSION=\"${GIT_VERSION}\"
 CPPFLAGS += -DSYSCONFDIR=\"${SYSCONFDIR}\"
-CPPFLAGS += -DTERM_EMU=\"$(TERM_EMU)\"
 
 ifeq ($(shell pkg-config --atleast-version=8.10 libpcre 2>/dev/null && echo 1),1)
 CPPFLAGS += -DPCRE_HAS_UCP=1
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 02a8fca6..a488469d 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ binary-indep: install
 binary: binary-arch binary-indep
 
 override_dh_auto_build:
-	$(MAKE) TERM_EMNU=x-terminal-emulator
+	$(MAKE)
 	$(MAKE) -C man
 	$(MAKE) -C docs