diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index fce5b9ee5..91c74b8ec 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1079,6 +1079,7 @@ if test -n "$OCTAVE"; then
   fi
   AC_MSG_RESULT([${mkoctfile}])
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([if ${mkoctfile} works])
+  mkoctfile="env - PATH=$PATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH ${mkoctfile}"
   AS_IF([test "x`${mkoctfile} --version 2>/dev/null | sed -n -e '1p' | sed -n -e '/mkoctfile, version/p'`" != x],[
       AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
     ],[
@@ -1093,7 +1094,7 @@ if test -n "$OCTAVE"; then
    AC_MSG_CHECKING([for Octave preprocessor flags])
    OCTAVE_CPPFLAGS=
    for var in CPPFLAGS INCFLAGS ALL_CXXFLAGS; do
-      for flag in `env - ${mkoctfile} -p ${var}`; do
+      for flag in `${mkoctfile} -p ${var}`; do
          case ${flag} in
             -D*|-I*) OCTAVE_CPPFLAGS="${OCTAVE_CPPFLAGS} ${flag}";;
             *) ;;
@@ -1105,7 +1106,7 @@ if test -n "$OCTAVE"; then
    AC_MSG_CHECKING([for Octave compiler flags])
    OCTAVE_CXXFLAGS=
    for var in CXX ALL_CXXFLAGS; do
-      for flag in `env - ${mkoctfile} -p ${var}`; do
+      for flag in `${mkoctfile} -p ${var}`; do
          case ${flag} in
             -std=*|-g*|-W*) OCTAVE_CXXFLAGS="${OCTAVE_CXXFLAGS} ${flag}";;
             *) ;;
@@ -1125,10 +1126,10 @@ if test -n "$OCTAVE"; then
    AC_MSG_CHECKING([for Octave linker flags])
    OCTAVE_LDFLAGS=
    for var in OCTLIBDIR; do
-     OCTAVE_LDFLAGS="${OCTAVE_LDFLAGS} "-L`env - ${mkoctfile} -p ${var}`
+     OCTAVE_LDFLAGS="${OCTAVE_LDFLAGS} "-L`${mkoctfile} -p ${var}`
    done
    for var in RDYNAMIC_FLAG RLD_FLAG OCTAVE_LIBS LIBS; do
-     OCTAVE_LDFLAGS="${OCTAVE_LDFLAGS} "`env - ${mkoctfile} -p ${var}`
+     OCTAVE_LDFLAGS="${OCTAVE_LDFLAGS} "`${mkoctfile} -p ${var}`
    done
    AC_MSG_RESULT([$OCTAVE_LDFLAGS])