diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ce5a9dd9c69c76223b78b8619d73c71755167f92..da9bdf6efe494d716841e0458fef413dcd76869a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -86,14 +86,16 @@ AC_PROG_INSTALL
 
 LSH_DEPENDENCY_TRACKING
 
-# Since the makefiles use include to get the dependency files, we must
-# make sure that the files exist. We generate some more files than are
-# actually needed.
+if test x$dependency_tracking = xyes ; then
+  # Since the makefiles use include to get the dependency files, we must
+  # make sure that the files exist. We generate some more files than are
+  # actually needed.
 
-AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS([dummy-dep-files],
-[(cd "$srcdir" && find . -name '*.c' -print) \
+  AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS([dummy-dep-files],
+  [(cd "$srcdir" && find . -name '*.c' -print) \
  | sed 's/\.c$//' | (while read f; do echo > "$f.o.d"; echo > "$f.po.d"; done)
 ])
+fi
 
 # Select assembler code
 asm_path=