diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 0368ecca..188e9e82 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -215,6 +215,7 @@ asciidoc_MANS =
 endif
 
 AM_CPPFLAGS = \
+	-DSYSCONFDIR="\"$(sysconfdir)\"" \
 	-I$(top_builddir)/parser \
 	-I$(top_srcdir)/include \
 	@AX_EXTEND_SRCDIR_CPPFLAGS@
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 87ffbbe7..f2bf26f8 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -59,8 +59,6 @@ AX_CHECK_ENABLE_DEBUG([yes], , [UNUSED_NDEBUG], [$is_release])
 
 AC_PROG_CC_C99
 
-AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(SYSCONFDIR, "`eval echo $sysconfdir`", [Location of system configuration files])
-
 # For strnlen() and vasprintf().
 AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS