diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 03dfa019..62b7545b 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -191,7 +191,6 @@ AC_SEARCH_LIBS([H5Fopen], [hdf5_cpp],
                [LIBS="${LIBS} -lhdf5"], [], [-lhdf5])
 AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_HDF5, [ test "${have_hdf5}X" == "trueX" ])
 
-$CXX -dM -E -x c /dev/null
 CXXFLAGS=$CXXFLAGS_CPY
 LDFLAGS=$LDFLAGS_CPY