diff --git a/check-guile.in b/check-guile.in
index 547a93753..9142fcff8 100644
--- a/check-guile.in
+++ b/check-guile.in
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 # Usage: check-guile [-i GUILE-INTERPRETER] [GUILE-TEST-ARGS]
-# If `-i GUILE-INTERPRETER' is omitted, use ${top_srcdir}/pre-inst-guile.
-# See test-suite/guile-test for documentation on GUILE-TEST-ARGS.
+# If `-i GUILE-INTERPRETER' is omitted, use ${top_builddir}/pre-inst-guile.
+# See ${top_srcdir}/test-suite/guile-test for documentation on GUILE-TEST-ARGS.
 #
 # Example invocations:
 # ./check-guile
@@ -12,19 +12,17 @@
 set -e
 
 # this script runs in the top-level build-dir.
-top_builddir=`pwd`
+top_builddir=@top_builddir_absolute@
 top_srcdir=@top_srcdir@
 
 TEST_SUITE_DIR=${top_srcdir}/test-suite
 
 if [ x"$1" = x-i ] ; then
     guile=$2
-    guile_opts=
     shift
     shift
 else
-    guile=${top_srcdir}/pre-inst-guile
-    guile_opts="${top_builddir}"
+    guile=${top_builddir}/pre-inst-guile
 fi
 
 GUILE_LOAD_PATH=$TEST_SUITE_DIR
@@ -43,7 +41,7 @@ if [ ! -f guile-procedures.txt ] ; then
    @LN_S@ libguile/guile-procedures.txt .
 fi
 
-exec $guile $guile_opts \
+exec $guile \
     -e main -s "$TEST_SUITE_DIR/guile-test" \
     --test-suite "$TEST_SUITE_DIR/tests" \
     --log-file check-guile.log "$@"