diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 60f9e1ff3a..90da6e8cc6 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ sys_name=`uname -s | tr [A-Z] [a-z]`
 system="${machine_name}-${sys_name}"
 AC_MSG_RESULT($system)
 AC_SUBST(system)
+AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(SYSTEM, ["$system"], [platform identifier (`cpu-os')])
 
 AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_CXX
@@ -43,7 +44,8 @@ AC_CHECK_HEADERS([locale])
 AC_LANG_POP(C++)
 
 AC_DEFUN([NEED_PROG],
-[AC_PATH_PROG($1, $2)
+[
+AC_PATH_PROG($1, $2)
 if test -z "$$1"; then
     AC_MSG_ERROR([$1 is required])
 fi
diff --git a/src/libutil/Makefile.am b/src/libutil/Makefile.am
index d5d4fcfad7..bd19bfa83a 100644
--- a/src/libutil/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/libutil/Makefile.am
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ noinst_LIBRARIES = libutil.a
 libutil_a_SOURCES = util.cc util.hh hash.cc hash.hh \
  archive.cc archive.hh md5.c md5.h aterm.cc aterm.hh
 
-AM_CXXFLAGS = -DSYSTEM=\"@system@\" -Wall -I.. ${aterm_include}
+AM_CXXFLAGS = -Wall -I.. ${aterm_include}
 
 check_PROGRAMS = test-aterm
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index 87b2ef2363..354165432c 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#include "config.h"
+
 #include <iostream>
 #include <cerrno>
 #include <cstdio>