diff --git a/Modules/readline.c b/Modules/readline.c
index 462d52f9b88..a4bfc621bb4 100644
--- a/Modules/readline.c
+++ b/Modules/readline.c
@@ -574,7 +574,9 @@ setup_readline(void)
 	rl_completer_word_break_characters =
 		strdup(" \t\n`~!@#$%^&*()-=+[{]}\\|;:'\",<>/?");
 		/* All nonalphanums except '.' */
+#ifdef HAVE_RL_COMPLETION_APPEND_CHARACTER
 	rl_completion_append_character ='\0';
+#endif
 
 	begidx = PyInt_FromLong(0L);
 	endidx = PyInt_FromLong(0L);
@@ -626,7 +628,9 @@ call_readline(FILE *sys_stdin, FILE *sys_stdout, char *prompt)
         if (sys_stdin != rl_instream || sys_stdout != rl_outstream) {
                 rl_instream = sys_stdin;
                 rl_outstream = sys_stdout;
+#ifdef HAVE_RL_COMPLETION_APPEND_CHARACTER
                 rl_prep_terminal (1);
+#endif
         }
         
 	p = readline(prompt);
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 207eddfc34d..5495840fa13 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #! /bin/sh
-# From configure.in Revision: 1.378 .
+# From configure.in Revision: 1.380 .
 # Guess values for system-dependent variables and create Makefiles.
 # Generated by GNU Autoconf 2.53 for python 2.3.
 #
@@ -908,7 +908,7 @@ esac
 # Don't blindly perform a `cd "$ac_dir"/$ac_foo && pwd` since $ac_foo can be
 # absolute.
 ac_abs_builddir=`cd "$ac_dir" && cd $ac_builddir && pwd`
-ac_abs_top_builddir=`cd "$ac_dir" && cd ${ac_top_builddir}. && pwd`
+ac_abs_top_builddir=`cd "$ac_dir" && cd $ac_top_builddir && pwd`
 ac_abs_srcdir=`cd "$ac_dir" && cd $ac_srcdir && pwd`
 ac_abs_top_srcdir=`cd "$ac_dir" && cd $ac_top_srcdir && pwd`
 
@@ -16228,6 +16228,56 @@ _ACEOF
 
 fi
 
+# check for readline 2.2
+cat >conftest.$ac_ext <<_ACEOF
+#line $LINENO "configure"
+#include "confdefs.h"
+#include <readline/readline.h>
+_ACEOF
+if { (eval echo "$as_me:$LINENO: \"$ac_cpp conftest.$ac_ext\"") >&5
+  (eval $ac_cpp conftest.$ac_ext) 2>conftest.er1
+  ac_status=$?
+  egrep -v '^ *\+' conftest.er1 >conftest.err
+  rm -f conftest.er1
+  cat conftest.err >&5
+  echo "$as_me:$LINENO: \$? = $ac_status" >&5
+  (exit $ac_status); } >/dev/null; then
+  if test -s conftest.err; then
+    ac_cpp_err=$ac_c_preproc_warn_flag
+  else
+    ac_cpp_err=
+  fi
+else
+  ac_cpp_err=yes
+fi
+if test -z "$ac_cpp_err"; then
+  have_readline=yes
+else
+  echo "$as_me: failed program was:" >&5
+  cat conftest.$ac_ext >&5
+  have_readline=no
+fi
+rm -f conftest.err conftest.$ac_ext
+if test $have_readline = yes
+then
+  cat >conftest.$ac_ext <<_ACEOF
+#line $LINENO "configure"
+#include "confdefs.h"
+#include <readline/readline.h>
+
+_ACEOF
+if (eval "$ac_cpp conftest.$ac_ext") 2>&5 |
+  egrep "extern int rl_completion_append_character;" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+
+cat >>confdefs.h <<\_ACEOF
+#define HAVE_RL_COMPLETION_APPEND_CHARACTER 1
+_ACEOF
+
+fi
+rm -f conftest*
+
+fi
+
 # check for readline 4.0
 echo "$as_me:$LINENO: checking for rl_pre_input_hook in -lreadline" >&5
 echo $ECHO_N "checking for rl_pre_input_hook in -lreadline... $ECHO_C" >&6
@@ -17418,7 +17468,7 @@ esac
 # Don't blindly perform a `cd "$ac_dir"/$ac_foo && pwd` since $ac_foo can be
 # absolute.
 ac_abs_builddir=`cd "$ac_dir" && cd $ac_builddir && pwd`
-ac_abs_top_builddir=`cd "$ac_dir" && cd ${ac_top_builddir}. && pwd`
+ac_abs_top_builddir=`cd "$ac_dir" && cd $ac_top_builddir && pwd`
 ac_abs_srcdir=`cd "$ac_dir" && cd $ac_srcdir && pwd`
 ac_abs_top_srcdir=`cd "$ac_dir" && cd $ac_top_srcdir && pwd`
 
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index b4bbdb649ad..4869dd10aff 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -2381,6 +2381,17 @@ then
   [Define this if you have flockfile(), getc_unlocked(), and funlockfile()])
 fi
 
+# check for readline 2.2
+AC_TRY_CPP([#include <readline/readline.h>],
+have_readline=yes, have_readline=no)
+if test $have_readline = yes
+then
+  AC_EGREP_HEADER([extern int rl_completion_append_character;],
+  [readline/readline.h],
+  AC_DEFINE(HAVE_RL_COMPLETION_APPEND_CHARACTER, 1,
+  [Define if you have readline 2.2]), )
+fi
+
 # check for readline 4.0
 AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_pre_input_hook,
 	AC_DEFINE(HAVE_RL_PRE_INPUT_HOOK, 1,
diff --git a/pyconfig.h.in b/pyconfig.h.in
index dd52efb3152..922147e3396 100644
--- a/pyconfig.h.in
+++ b/pyconfig.h.in
@@ -333,6 +333,9 @@
 /* Define to 1 if you have the `readlink' function. */
 #undef HAVE_READLINK
 
+/* Define if you have readline 2.2 */
+#undef HAVE_RL_COMPLETION_APPEND_CHARACTER
+
 /* Define if you have readline 4.2 */
 #undef HAVE_RL_COMPLETION_MATCHES