diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
index e00bc976a..f4aa305f5 100644
--- a/acinclude.m4
+++ b/acinclude.m4
@@ -442,3 +442,7 @@ AC_DEFUN([GUILE_READLINE], [
   AC_SUBST(LIBGUILEREADLINE_INTERFACE_AGE)
   AC_SUBST(LIBGUILEREADLINE_INTERFACE)
 ])
+
+dnl Declare file $1 to be a script that needs configuring,
+dnl and arrange to make it executable in the process.
+AC_DEFUN([GUILE_CONFIG_SCRIPT],[AC_CONFIG_FILES([$1],[chmod +x $1])])
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a79ec0d13..265b38265 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1643,11 +1643,6 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES([meta/guile-2.0.pc])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([meta/guile-2.0-uninstalled.pc])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([doc/ref/effective-version.texi])
 
-dnl We can get fancy with m4sugar (m4_foreach et al) later.
-dnl NB: We don't jam everything into one GUILE_CONFIG_SCRIPT call
-dnl since that expands "chmod +x LONG-LIST-OF-FILES" multiply.  --ttn
-AC_DEFUN([GUILE_CONFIG_SCRIPT],[AC_CONFIG_FILES([$1],[chmod +x $1])])
-
 GUILE_CONFIG_SCRIPT([check-guile])
 GUILE_CONFIG_SCRIPT([benchmark-guile])
 GUILE_CONFIG_SCRIPT([meta/guile])