diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a9561069c..7adef1bf5 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile \
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 #   --with-geosconfig
 #
+if 0; then
 AC_ARG_WITH([geosconfig],
     [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-geosconfig=FILE], [specify an alternative geos-config file])],
 	[GEOSCONFIG="$withval"], [GEOSCONFIG=""])
@@ -112,6 +113,7 @@ fi
 # Extract the linker and include flags
 GEOS_LDFLAGS=`$GEOSCONFIG --ldflags`
 GEOS_CFLAGS=-I`$GEOSCONFIG --includes`
+fi
 AC_SUBST([GEOS_LDFLAGS])
 AC_SUBST([GEOS_CFLAGS])
 # Ensure that we can parse geos_c.h
@@ -120,6 +122,7 @@ CPPFLAGS="$GEOS_CFLAGS"
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([geos_c.h],, [AC_MSG_ERROR([could not find geos_c.h - you may need to specify the directory of a geos-config file using --with-geosconfig])])
 CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS_SAVE"
 # Ensure we can link against libgeos_c
+if 0; then
 LIBS_SAVE="$LIBS"
 LIBS="$GEOS_LDFLAGS"
 AC_SEARCH_LIBS(GEOSContext_setErrorMessageHandler_r,geos_c,,AC_MSG_ERROR([could not find libgeos_c (or obsolete 'libgeos_c' < v.3.5.0 found) - you may need to specify the directory of a geos-config file using --with-geosconfig]))
@@ -127,6 +130,8 @@ LIBS="$LIBS_SAVE"
 LIBS="$LIBS $GEOS_LDFLAGS -lgeos_c"
 GEOS_MAJOR_VERSION=`$GEOSCONFIG --version | cut -d. -f1 | sed 's/[[^0-9]]//g'`
 GEOS_MINOR_VERSION=`$GEOSCONFIG --version | cut -d. -f2 | sed 's/[[^0-9]]//g'`
+fi
+LIBS="$LIBS $GEOS_LDFLAGS"
 RTGEOM_GEOS_VERSION="$GEOS_MAJOR_VERSION$GEOS_MINOR_VERSION"
 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([RTGEOM_GEOS_VERSION], [$RTGEOM_GEOS_VERSION], [GEOS library version])
 AC_SUBST([RTGEOM_GEOS_VERSION])