diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 6f5bde78b0..7063225033 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -4978,34 +4978,15 @@ trap 'rm -f $CONFIG_STATUS conftest*; exit 1' 1 2 15
 # Transform confdefs.h into DEFS.
 # Protect against shell expansion while executing Makefile rules.
 # Protect against Makefile macro expansion.
-#
-# If the first sed substitution is executed (which looks for macros that
-# take arguments), then we branch to the quote section.  Otherwise,
-# look for a macro that doesn't take arguments.
-cat >confdef2opt.sed <<\_ACEOF
-t clear
-: clear
-s,^[ 	]*#[ 	]*define[ 	][ 	]*\([^ 	(][^ 	(]*([^)]*)\)[ 	]*\(.*\),-D\1=\2,g
-t quote
-s,^[ 	]*#[ 	]*define[ 	][ 	]*\([^ 	][^ 	]*\)[ 	]*\(.*\),-D\1=\2,g
-t quote
-d
-: quote
-s,[ 	`~#$^&*(){}\\|;'"<>?],\\&,g
-s,\[,\\&,g
-s,\],\\&,g
-s,\$,$$,g
-p
-_ACEOF
-# We use echo to avoid assuming a particular line-breaking character.
-# The extra dot is to prevent the shell from consuming trailing
-# line-breaks from the sub-command output.  A line-break within
-# single-quotes doesn't work because, if this script is created in a
-# platform that uses two characters for line-breaks (e.g., DOS), tr
-# would break.
-ac_LF_and_DOT=`echo; echo .`
-DEFS=`sed -n -f confdef2opt.sed confdefs.h | tr "$ac_LF_and_DOT" ' .'`
-rm -f confdef2opt.sed
+cat > conftest.defs <<\EOF
+s%#define \([A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*\) *\(.*\)%-D\1=\2%g
+s%[ 	`~#$^&*(){}\\|;'"<>?]%\\&%g
+s%\[%\\&%g
+s%\]%\\&%g
+s%\$%$$%g
+EOF
+DEFS=`sed -f conftest.defs confdefs.h | tr '\012' ' '`
+rm -f conftest.defs
 
 
 # Without the "./", some shells look in PATH for config.status.