diff --git a/configure b/configure
index a7caf1e190..ac4840d45b 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -569,6 +569,14 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --sysconfdir=*) sysconfdir="$optarg"
   ;;
+  --sbindir=*|--libexecdir=*|--sharedstatedir=*|--localstatedir=*|\
+  --oldincludedir=*|--datarootdir=*|--infodir=*|--localedir=*|\
+  --htmldir=*|--dvidir=*|--pdfdir=*|--psdir=*)
+    # These switches are silently ignored, for compatibility with
+    # autoconf-generated configure scripts. This allows QEMU's
+    # configure to be used by RPM and similar macros that set
+    # lots of directory switches by default.
+  ;;
   --disable-sdl) sdl="no"
   ;;
   --enable-sdl) sdl="yes"
@@ -759,8 +767,6 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --enable-opengl) opengl="yes"
   ;;
-  --*dir)
-  ;;
   --disable-rbd) rbd="no"
   ;;
   --enable-rbd) rbd="yes"