diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 3b61096b0..53eb01671 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -9235,8 +9235,10 @@ _ACEOF
   test "$prefix_NONE" && prefix=NONE
   test "$exec_prefix_NONE" && exec_prefix=NONE
 
+if test "$RUNDIR" == ""; then
 RUNDIR="/var/run"
 
+fi
 ZM_RUNDIR="$RUNDIR/zm"
 
 ZM_PID="$ZM_RUNDIR/zm.pid"
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8636d9e45..0a35fcf05 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -325,7 +325,9 @@ AC_PROG_PERL_MODULES(X10::ActiveHome,,AC_MSG_WARN(X10::ActiveHome is required fo
 
 AC_DEFINE_DIR([BINDIR],[bindir],[Expanded binary directory])
 AC_DEFINE_DIR([LIBDIR],[libdir],[Expanded library directory])
+if test "$RUNDIR" == ""; then
 AC_SUBST(RUNDIR,"/var/run")
+fi
 AC_SUBST(ZM_RUNDIR,"$RUNDIR/zm")
 AC_SUBST(ZM_PID,"$ZM_RUNDIR/zm.pid")
 AC_DEFINE_DIR([SYSCONFDIR],[sysconfdir],[Expanded configuration directory])