--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -522,7 +522,6 @@
 
 # If we still don't have it, we use our own
 if test $have_pcre != yes ; then
-  AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS( libpcre )
   CPPFLAGS="-I\$(top_srcdir)/$LIBPCREDIR $CPPFLAGS"
   LIBPCRE_LIBS="$LIBPCREDIR/libpcre.a"
   PCRE_BUILD="build-pcre"