diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 0c1f595..c4d9766 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -69,16 +69,14 @@
 	PKG_CHECK_MODULES(OSMOSIMTRACE2, libosmo-simtrace2)
 	PKG_CHECK_MODULES(USB, libusb-1.0)
 
-	# we cannot use the below command, as 'make distcheck' would fail due to the lack
-	# of ${prefix} being involved :(
-	#ifd_dropdir=`pkg-config --variable=usbdropdir libpcsclite`
-	#serialconfdir=`pkg-config --variable=serialconfdir libpcsclite`
-	ifd_dropdir="${libdir}/pcsc"
-	serialconfdir="${sysconfdir}/reader.conf.d"
+	ifd_dropdir=`pkg-config --variable=usbdropdir libpcsclite`
 	# allow user to override the dropdir for the PCSC driver bundle
 	AC_ARG_WITH(usbdropdir, [--with-usbdropdir	PCSC bundle location],
 				[usbdropdir="${withval}"], [usbdropdir="${ifd_dropdir}"])
 	AC_SUBST(usbdropdir)
+	_serialconfdir=`pkg-config --variable=serialconfdir libpcsclite`
+	AC_ARG_WITH(serialconfdir, [--with-serialconfdir PCSC config directory location],
+				[serialconfdir="${withval}"], [serialconfdir="${_serialconfdir}"])
 	AC_SUBST(serialconfdir)
 fi
 AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_CLIENT, test "x$osmo_ac_build_client" = "xyes")