diff --git a/autoconf/m4/unreal.m4 b/autoconf/m4/unreal.m4
index 00872dc45..5a93300a8 100644
--- a/autoconf/m4/unreal.m4
+++ b/autoconf/m4/unreal.m4
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ AC_DEFUN([CHECK_LIBCURL],
 		dnl wants bundled c-ares + system libcURL, then we should filter out c-ares
 		dnl flags. _Only_ in that case should we mess with the flags. -- ohnobinki
 
-		AS_IF([test "x$has_system_cares" = "xno" && test "x$HOME/curl" != "x$enable_curl" && test "x/usr/share/unreal-curl" != "x$enable_curl" && test "$CURLUSESCARES" != "0" ],
+		AS_IF([test "x$has_system_cares" = "xno" && test "x$BUILDDIR/extras/curl" != "x$enable_curl" && test "$CURLUSESCARES" != "0" ],
 		[
 			AC_MSG_ERROR([[
 
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index e495f1c24..86529b694 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -624,7 +624,6 @@ ac_includes_default="\
 
 ac_subst_vars='LTLIBOBJS
 LIBOBJS
-BUILDDIR
 UNRLINCDIR
 URL
 PTHREAD_CFLAGS
@@ -688,6 +687,7 @@ CPPFLAGS
 LDFLAGS
 CFLAGS
 CC
+BUILDDIR
 target_alias
 host_alias
 build_alias
@@ -2530,6 +2530,9 @@ fi
 
 orig_cflags="$CFLAGS"
 
+BUILDDIR="`pwd`"
+
+
 # Generation version number (e.g.: X in X.Y.Z)
 UNREAL_VERSION_GENERATION="4"
 
@@ -8499,7 +8502,7 @@ $as_echo "$as_me: WARNING: CURLLIBS is empty, that probably means that I could n
 fi
 
 
-		if test "x$has_system_cares" = "xno" && test "x$HOME/curl" != "x$enable_curl" && test "x/usr/share/unreal-curl" != "x$enable_curl" && test "$CURLUSESCARES" != "0" ; then :
+		if test "x$has_system_cares" = "xno" && test "x$BUILDDIR/extras/curl" != "x$enable_curl" && test "$CURLUSESCARES" != "0" ; then :
 
 			as_fn_error $? "
 
@@ -8570,9 +8573,6 @@ fi
 UNRLINCDIR="`pwd`/include"
 
 
-BUILDDIR="`pwd`"
-
-
 ac_config_files="$ac_config_files Makefile src/Makefile src/modules/Makefile src/modules/chanmodes/Makefile src/modules/usermodes/Makefile src/modules/snomasks/Makefile src/modules/extbans/Makefile src/modules/third/Makefile unrealircd"
 
 cat >confcache <<\_ACEOF
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f497f3a1f..e8c965e6c 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ fi
 dnl Save CFLAGS, use this when building the libraries like c-ares
 orig_cflags="$CFLAGS"
 
+dnl Save build directory early on (used in our m4 macros too)
+BUILDDIR="`pwd`"
+AC_SUBST(BUILDDIR)
+
 dnl Calculate the versions. Perhaps the use of expr is a little too extravagant
 # Generation version number (e.g.: X in X.Y.Z)
 UNREAL_VERSION_GENERATION=["4"]
@@ -857,9 +861,6 @@ CHECK_LIBCURL
 UNRLINCDIR="`pwd`/include"
 AC_SUBST(UNRLINCDIR)
 
-BUILDDIR="`pwd`"
-AC_SUBST(BUILDDIR)
-
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile
 	src/Makefile
 	src/modules/Makefile