diff --git a/clutter/cogl/configure.ac b/clutter/cogl/configure.ac
index b23ce32c8..c982156ad 100644
--- a/clutter/cogl/configure.ac
+++ b/clutter/cogl/configure.ac
@@ -704,6 +704,10 @@ AC_SUBST(COGL_DEP_LIBS)
 AC_SUBST(COGL_EXTRA_CFLAGS)
 AC_SUBST(COGL_EXTRA_LDFLAGS)
 
+# just for compatability with the clutter build...
+MAINTAINER_CFLAGS=
+AC_SUBST(MAINTAINER_CFLAGS)
+
 AC_OUTPUT(
 Makefile
 cogl/Makefile