diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ae2a1bc7..8cbe9b6e 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1101,7 +1101,6 @@ case "$host" in
 esac
 
 XML_LIBS="-lxml2"
-XML_LIBTOOLLIBS="libxml2.la"
 NON_PC_LIBS="${THREAD_LIBS} ${ICONV_LIBS} ${LIBM} ${NET_LIBS} ${CRYPTO_LIBS}"
 XML_PC_LIBS="${XML_PC_LIBS} ${NON_PC_LIBS}"
 XML_PRIVATE_LIBS="${XML_PRIVATE_LIBS} ${NON_PC_LIBS}"
@@ -1140,7 +1139,6 @@ AC_SUBST(XML_LIBDIR)
 AC_SUBST(XML_LIBS)
 AC_SUBST(XML_PRIVATE_LIBS)
 AC_SUBST(XML_PRIVATE_CFLAGS)
-AC_SUBST(XML_LIBTOOLLIBS)
 AC_SUBST(XML_INCLUDEDIR)
 
 dnl for the spec file
diff --git a/xml2-config.in b/xml2-config.in
index 1f82f80c..316fb303 100644
--- a/xml2-config.in
+++ b/xml2-config.in
@@ -71,9 +71,9 @@ while test $# -gt 0; do
        	;;
 
     --libtool-libs)
-	if [ -r ${libdir}/@XML_LIBTOOLLIBS@ ]
+	if [ -r ${libdir}/libxml2.la ]
 	then
-	    echo ${libdir}/@XML_LIBTOOLLIBS@
+	    echo ${libdir}/libxml2.la
 	fi
         ;;