diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 0367c78ed..d2f6d6531 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign 1.10 dist-bzip2
 
 AM_CPPFLAGS = -I$(srcdir)/src $(GLIB_CFLAGS)
 
+AM_CPPFLAGS += -DSYSTEM_CONFIG_FILE_LOCATION='"$(sysconfdir)/mpd.conf"'
+
 bin_PROGRAMS = src/mpd
 
 src_mpd_CFLAGS = $(AM_CFLAGS) $(MPD_CFLAGS)
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index dd6b15395..6fee901db 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ ver 0.16 (20??/??/??)
 * log unused/unknown block parameters
 * save state when stopped
 * renamed option "--stdout" to "--stderr"
+* obey $(sysconfdir) for default mpd.conf location
 
 
 ver 0.15.1 (2009/07/15)
diff --git a/src/cmdline.c b/src/cmdline.c
index 5216568fd..606f26674 100644
--- a/src/cmdline.c
+++ b/src/cmdline.c
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
-#define SYSTEM_CONFIG_FILE_LOCATION	"/etc/mpd.conf"
 #define USER_CONFIG_FILE_LOCATION1	".mpdconf"
 #define USER_CONFIG_FILE_LOCATION2	".mpd/mpd.conf"