diff --git a/configure b/configure
index d5181f06939..b6bcbbef3dd 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -14381,7 +14381,7 @@ LDVERSION='$(VERSION)$(ABIFLAGS)'
 $as_echo "$LDVERSION" >&6; }
 
 
-LIBPL="${prefix}/lib/python${VERSION}/config-${LDVERSION}"
+LIBPL='$(prefix)'"/lib/python${VERSION}/config-${LDVERSION}"
 
 
 # Check whether right shifting a negative integer extends the sign bit
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9b12dbfd1a7..4030e338bfc 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -4331,7 +4331,7 @@ AC_MSG_RESULT($LDVERSION)
 
 dnl define LIBPL after ABIFLAGS and LDVERSION is defined.
 AC_SUBST(PY_ENABLE_SHARED)
-LIBPL="${prefix}/lib/python${VERSION}/config-${LDVERSION}"
+LIBPL='$(prefix)'"/lib/python${VERSION}/config-${LDVERSION}"
 AC_SUBST(LIBPL)
 
 # Check whether right shifting a negative integer extends the sign bit