diff --git a/configure b/configure
index ef46da739d..2c5773924a 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1012,7 +1012,8 @@ SLIBNAME_WITH_VERSION='$(SLIBNAME).$(LIBVERSION)'
 SLIBNAME_WITH_MAJOR='$(SLIBNAME).$(LIBMAJOR)'
 LIB_INSTALL_EXTRA_CMD='$(RANLIB) "$(LIBDIR)/$(LIBNAME)"'
 
-# gcc stupidly only outputs the basename of targets with -MM
+# gcc stupidly only outputs the basename of targets with -MM, but we need the
+# full relative path for objects in subdirectories for non-recursive Make.
 DEPEND_CMD='$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -MM -MG $< | sed -e "/^\#.*/d" -e "1s,^,$(@D)/," -e "s,\\([[:space:]]\\)\\(version\\.h\\),\\1\$$(BUILD_ROOT_REL)/\\2,"'
 
 # find source path