diff --git a/Makefile.pre.in b/Makefile.pre.in
index 91b2b5aebfe..b6578dec082 100644
--- a/Makefile.pre.in
+++ b/Makefile.pre.in
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ MODLIBS=        _MODLIBS_
 VERSION=	@VERSION@
 srcdir=		@srcdir@
 VPATH=		@srcdir@
-BUILDDIR=	@BUILDDIR@
+abs_srcdir=	@abs_srcdir@
+abs_builddir=	@abs_builddir@
 
 CC=		@CC@
 CXX=		@CXX@
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 6b4235cbffb..7098353a6d2 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -649,7 +649,6 @@ HGBRANCH
 HGTAG
 HGVERSION
 BASECPPFLAGS
-BUILDDIR
 SVNVERSION
 ARFLAGS
 AR
@@ -5177,10 +5176,8 @@ else
 	SVNVERSION="echo Unversioned directory"
 fi
 
-BUILDDIR="`pwd`"
 
-
-if test "$srcdir" != "." -a "$srcdir" != "$BUILDDIR"; then
+if test "$abs_srcdir" != "$abs_builddir"; then
     # If we're building out-of-tree make sure Include (in the current dir)
     # gets picked up before its $srcdir counterpart in order for Python-ast.h
     # and graminit.h to get picked up from the correct directory.
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 6f8ed747e9f..7782116a1bd 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -854,10 +854,8 @@ else
 	SVNVERSION="echo Unversioned directory"
 fi
 
-BUILDDIR="`pwd`"
-AC_SUBST(BUILDDIR)
 AC_SUBST(BASECPPFLAGS)
-if test "$srcdir" != "." -a "$srcdir" != "$BUILDDIR"; then
+if test "$abs_srcdir" != "$abs_builddir"; then
     # If we're building out-of-tree make sure Include (in the current dir)
     # gets picked up before its $srcdir counterpart in order for Python-ast.h
     # and graminit.h to get picked up from the correct directory.