diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index e83773f9..a674e021 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ pixmap_DATA = htop.png
 appicondir = $(datadir)/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps
 appicon_DATA = htop.svg
 
-AM_CFLAGS += -pedantic -std=c99 -D_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED -DSYSCONFDIR=\"$(sysconfdir)\" -I"$(top_srcdir)/$(my_htop_platform)"
+AM_CFLAGS += -pedantic -std=c99 -D_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED -DSYSCONFDIR="\"$(sysconfdir)\"" -I"$(top_srcdir)/$(my_htop_platform)"
 AM_LDFLAGS =
 
 myhtopsources = \
diff --git a/Settings.c b/Settings.c
index a2bb0962..6c8f8894 100644
--- a/Settings.c
+++ b/Settings.c
@@ -424,10 +424,7 @@ Settings* Settings_new(int initialCpuCount) {
    }
    if (!ok) {
       this->changed = true;
-      // TODO: how to get SYSCONFDIR correctly through Autoconf?
-      char* systemSettings = String_cat(SYSCONFDIR, "/htoprc");
-      ok = Settings_read(this, systemSettings, initialCpuCount);
-      free(systemSettings);
+      ok = Settings_read(this, SYSCONFDIR "/htoprc", initialCpuCount);
    }
    if (!ok) {
       Settings_defaultMeters(this, initialCpuCount);