diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 507044261..00762c469 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -1,23 +1,13 @@
 AC_INIT(Makefile.in)
 
+rm -f config.build-subdirs
+
 . $srcdir/GUILE-VERSION
 
 all_subdirs=`cat $srcdir/*/PLUGIN/REQ $srcdir/*/PLUGIN/OPT /dev/null | tsort | xargs echo`
 req_subdirs=`cat $srcdir/*/PLUGIN/REQ /dev/null | tsort | xargs echo`
 opt_subdirs=`cat $srcdir/*/PLUGIN/OPT /dev/null | tsort | xargs echo`
 
-AC_PROG_CC
-
-### Use gtcltk-lib only if we seem to have Tcl installed on the
-### system.  This way of doing this doesn't really fit into the PLUGIN
-### approach, but I'm not sure how to do it more gracefully within
-### that approach.
-AC_CHECK_LIB(tcl7.5, Tcl_CreateInterp, have_tcl=true, have_tcl=false, -lm)
-if $have_tcl; then :; else
-  all_subdirs="`echo $all_subdirs | sed s:gtcltk-lib::`"
-  req_subdirs="`echo $req_subdirs | sed s:gtcltk-lib::`"
-fi  
-
 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS($all_subdirs)
 existingdirs=
 for d in $all_subdirs; do
@@ -61,6 +51,38 @@ if test "x$verbose" = xyes; then
 fi
 
 
+AC_PROG_CC
+
+### build_subdirs is the list of directories we actually want to
+### build.  It's not equivalent to existingdirs: if we can't find the
+### Tcl libraries, then we don't want to build in gtcltk-lib.
+###
+### So why can't we just forget about gtcltk-lib altogether, and
+### delete it from existingdirs, in that case?  Well, in order for
+### 'make dist' to work, we still need to configure gtcltk-lib, and
+### the top-level Makefile needs to know it exists,
+build_subdirs="${existingdirs}"
+
+### Decide which directories to build; remove the ones we don't want
+### from build_subdirs.
+
+### Use gtcltk-lib only if we seem to have Tcl installed on the
+### system.  We really should check for Tk as well, but that involves
+### finding all the X libraries that we need to do a complete link.
+AC_CHECK_LIB(tcl7.5, Tcl_CreateInterp, have_tcl=true, have_tcl=false, -lm)
+if $have_tcl; then :; else
+  build_subdirs="`echo $build_subdirs | sed s:gtcltk-lib::`"
+  req_subdirs="`echo $req_subdirs | sed s:gtcltk-lib::`"
+fi  
+
+### Write the list of survivors, the directories we do want to build,
+### to a file in the top level, so the subdirectories' configuration
+### scripts can find it.  We don't want to pass the list in the
+### environment, because the subdirectory configuration scripts can be
+### run on their own.
+echo "${build_subdirs}" > config.build-subdirs
+
 AC_SUBST(existingdirs)
+AC_SUBST(build_subdirs)
 AC_SUBST(GUILE_VERSION)
 AC_OUTPUT(Makefile doc/Makefile)