diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index cf9bc47f..1d908588 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -42,10 +42,6 @@ PKG_CHECK_MODULES([LIBCURL], [libcurl], , [LIBCURL_CHECK_CONFIG])
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES([CPPUNIT], [cppunit],, [no_cppunit="yes"])
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES([DEPENDENCIES], [libtorrent >= 0.13.7])
 
-LIBS="$PTHREAD_LIBS $CURSES_LIB $CPPUNIT_LIBS $LIBCURL $LIBCURL_LIBS $DEPENDENCIES_LIBS $LIBS"
-CFLAGS="$CFLAGS $PTHREAD_CFLAGS $CPPUNIT_CFLAGS $LIBCURL_CPPFLAGS $LIBCURL_CFLAGS $DEPENDENCIES_CFLAGS $CURSES_CFLAGS"
-CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS $PTHREAD_CFLAGS $CPPUNIT_CFLAGS $LIBCURL_CPPFLAGS $LIBCURL_CFLAGS $DEPENDENCIES_CFLAGS $CURSES_CFLAGS"
-
 AC_LANG_PUSH(C++)
 TORRENT_WITH_XMLRPC_C
 AC_LANG_POP(C++)
@@ -62,6 +58,12 @@ CC_ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED(
 	AC_DEFINE([__UNUSED], [], [Null-wrapper if unused attribute is unsupported])
 )
 
+dnl Only update global build variables immediately before generating the output,
+dnl to avoid affecting the global build environment for other autoconf checks.
+LIBS="$PTHREAD_LIBS $CURSES_LIB $CPPUNIT_LIBS $LIBCURL $LIBCURL_LIBS $DEPENDENCIES_LIBS $LIBS"
+CFLAGS="$CFLAGS $PTHREAD_CFLAGS $CPPUNIT_CFLAGS $LIBCURL_CPPFLAGS $LIBCURL_CFLAGS $DEPENDENCIES_CFLAGS $CURSES_CFLAGS"
+CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS $PTHREAD_CFLAGS $CPPUNIT_CFLAGS $LIBCURL_CPPFLAGS $LIBCURL_CFLAGS $DEPENDENCIES_CFLAGS $CURSES_CFLAGS"
+
 AC_OUTPUT([
 	Makefile
 	doc/Makefile