diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c9ed18263..3951c662c 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -108,8 +108,6 @@ AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([GJS_VERSION], ["$GJS_VERSION"], [The version of GJS we're li
 AC_SUBST([GJS_VERSION], ["$GJS_VERSION"])
 
 GOBJECT_INTROSPECTION_CHECK([$GOBJECT_INTROSPECTION_MIN_VERSION])
-JHBUILD_TYPELIBDIR="$INTROSPECTION_TYPELIBDIR"
-AC_SUBST(JHBUILD_TYPELIBDIR)
 
 saved_CFLAGS=$CFLAGS
 saved_LIBS=$LIBS
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index ca058e5c4..f1721fbd6 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -55,7 +55,6 @@ generated_script_substitutions = \
 	    -e "s|@libexecdir[@]|$(libexecdir)|g" \
 	    -e "s|@libdir[@]|$(libdir)|g" \
 	    -e "s|@pkglibdir[@]|$(pkglibdir)|g" \
-	    -e "s|@JHBUILD_TYPELIBDIR[@]|$(JHBUILD_TYPELIBDIR)|g" \
 	    -e "s|@pkgdatadir[@]|$(pkgdatadir)|g" \
 	    -e "s|@PYTHON[@]|$(PYTHON)|g" \
 	    -e "s|@VERSION[@]|$(VERSION)|g" \
diff --git a/src/gnome-shell-jhbuild.in b/src/gnome-shell-jhbuild.in
index e2c0a745c..e695e5852 100755
--- a/src/gnome-shell-jhbuild.in
+++ b/src/gnome-shell-jhbuild.in
@@ -67,22 +67,21 @@ def start_shell():
     if os.path.exists(os.path.join(self_dir, 'gnome-shell-jhbuild.in')):
         running_from_source_tree = True
         top_dir = os.path.dirname(self_dir)
-        typelib_dir = '@JHBUILD_TYPELIBDIR@:' + os.path.join(top_dir, "src")
         js_dir = os.path.join(top_dir, "js")
         data_dir = os.path.join(top_dir, "data")
+        typelib_dir = os.path.join(top_dir, "src")
+        if 'GI_TYPELIB_PATH' in os.environ:
+            typelib_dir += ':%s' % (os.environ['GI_TYPELIB_PATH'],)
     else:
         running_from_source_tree = False
         js_dir = os.path.join('@pkgdatadir@', 'js')
-        typelib_dir = '@JHBUILD_TYPELIBDIR@'
-
-    if os.environ.has_key('GI_TYPELIB_PATH'):
-        typelib_dir = typelib_dir + ":" + os.environ.get('GI_TYPELIB_PATH')
 
     # Set up environment
     env = dict(os.environ)
     if running_from_source_tree:
         env.update({'GNOME_SHELL_JS'       : js_dir,
                     'GNOME_SHELL_BINDIR'   : self_dir,
+                    'GI_TYPELIB_PATH'      : typelib_dir,
                     'GNOME_SHELL_DATADIR'  : data_dir,
                     'GSETTINGS_SCHEMA_DIR' : data_dir })