diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 6ed02a6c3bac2a2869e5bc2acee2dd19743f99d5..92a25c830d342a4143f014ee3e85db96c0d37eb2 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -354,7 +354,10 @@ docrst = \
 	doc/upgrade.rst \
 	doc/walkthrough.rst
 
-HS_PROGS = htools/htools htools/hconfd
+HS_PROGS = htools/htools
+if WANT_CONFD
+HS_PROGS += htools/hconfd
+endif
 HS_BIN_ROLES = hbal hscan hspace hinfo
 
 HS_ALL_PROGS = $(HS_PROGS) htools/test htools/hpc-htools
@@ -538,7 +541,6 @@ $(HS_ALL_PROGS): %: %.hs $(HS_LIB_SRCS) $(HS_BUILT_SRCS) Makefile
 	  $(HTOOLS_NOCURL) $(HTOOLS_PARALLEL3) \
 	  -osuf $$BINARY.o -hisuf $$BINARY.hi \
 	  $(HEXTRA) $(HEXTRA_INT) $@
-
 # for the htools/test binary, we need to enable profiling/coverage
 htools/test: HEXTRA_INT=-fhpc -Wwarn -fno-warn-missing-signatures \
 	-fno-warn-monomorphism-restriction -fno-warn-orphans \
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 3dd5b691e661bb0424cfc87af4324982834ab3b9..7dd122caf3d8e76e0b92113ade571cd0a2cc126f 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -287,6 +287,8 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE([confd],
   [enable_confd=True])
 AC_SUBST(ENABLE_CONFD, $enable_confd)
 
+AM_CONDITIONAL([WANT_CONFD], [test x$enable_confd = xTrue])
+
 # --with-disk-separator=...
 AC_ARG_WITH([disk-separator],
   [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-disk-separator=STRING],