diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 6f817e2e..935c0a1d 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -8,10 +8,6 @@ default-config.h: $(srcdir)/irssi.conf
 default-theme.h: $(srcdir)/default.theme
 	$(srcdir)/file2header.sh $(srcdir)/default.theme default_theme > default-theme.h
 
-if BUILD_PLUGINS
-PLUGINS=plugins
-endif
-
 SUBDIRS = src docs scripts
 
 confdir = $(sysconfdir)
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 732d8dfc..0a46df40 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -659,7 +659,6 @@ dnl ** check what we want to build
 AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_TEXTUI, test "$want_textui" = "yes")
 AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_IRSSIBOT, test "$want_irssibot" = "yes")
 AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_IRSSIPROXY, test "$want_irssiproxy" = "yes")
-AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_PLUGINS, test "$want_plugins" = "yes")
 AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_PERL, test "$want_perl" != "no")
 AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_STATIC_PERL, test "$want_perl" = "static")
 AM_CONDITIONAL(NEED_TPARM, test "$need_tparm" = "yes")