diff --git a/autoconf/configure.ac b/autoconf/configure.ac
index 5dbb422d3fe..9541b8a46c3 100644
--- a/autoconf/configure.ac
+++ b/autoconf/configure.ac
@@ -1011,6 +1011,13 @@ fi
 
 dnl Find the install program
 AC_PROG_INSTALL
+dnl Prepend src dir to install path dir if it's a relative path
+dnl This is a hack for installs that take place in something other
+dnl than the top level.
+case "$INSTALL" in
+ [[\\/$]]* | ?:[[\\/]]* ) ;;
+ *)  INSTALL="\\\$(TOPSRCDIR)/$INSTALL" ;;
+esac
 
 dnl Checks for documentation and testing tools that we can do without. If these
 dnl are not found then they are set to "true" which always succeeds but does