diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 28c884a1..f70d0f33 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 
 SUBDIRS = gdbus include src plugins doc
 
+DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = --disable-datafiles
+
 MAINTAINERCLEANFILES = Makefile.in \
 	aclocal.m4 configure config.h.in config.sub config.guess \
 	ltmain.sh depcomp missing install-sh mkinstalldirs
diff --git a/bootstrap-configure b/bootstrap-configure
index fdf8f10b..2519f22f 100755
--- a/bootstrap-configure
+++ b/bootstrap-configure
@@ -9,4 +9,5 @@ fi
 		--enable-debug \
 		--prefix=/usr \
 		--mandir=/usr/share/man \
-		--sysconfdir=/etc
+		--sysconfdir=/etc \
+		--disable-datafiles
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f3a5a5fb..d93d7c74 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -76,5 +76,11 @@ AC_SUBST(DBUS_DATADIR)
 AC_SUBST([GDBUS_CFLAGS], ['$(DBUS_CFLAGS) -I$(top_srcdir)/gdbus'])
 AC_SUBST([GDBUS_LIBS], ['$(top_builddir)/gdbus/libgdbus.la $(DBUS_LIBS)'])
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(datafiles, AC_HELP_STRING([--disable-datafiles],
+			[don't install configuration and data files]),
+					[enable_datafiles=${enableval}])
+
+AM_CONDITIONAL(DATAFILES, test "${enable_datafiles}" != "no")
+
 AC_OUTPUT(Makefile gdbus/Makefile include/Makefile include/version.h
 				src/Makefile plugins/Makefile doc/Makefile)