diff --git a/build/pkgs/freetype/spkg-configure.m4 b/build/pkgs/freetype/spkg-configure.m4
index 09dc7a5d4b5..6cfc640efbe 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/freetype/spkg-configure.m4
+++ b/build/pkgs/freetype/spkg-configure.m4
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ SAGE_SPKG_CONFIGURE([freetype], [
     if test x$sage_spkg_install_freetype = xyes; then
       AC_SUBST(SAGE_FREETYPE_PREFIX, ['$SAGE_LOCAL'])
     else
-      AC_SUBST(SAGE_FREETYPE_PREFIX, [yes])
+      AC_SUBST(SAGE_FREETYPE_PREFIX, [''])
     fi
 ])
 
diff --git a/build/pkgs/libgd/spkg-install b/build/pkgs/libgd/spkg-install
index d538e850b48..b1825347f2d 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/libgd/spkg-install
+++ b/build/pkgs/libgd/spkg-install
@@ -7,10 +7,15 @@ cd src
 
 export CFLAGS="-g $CFLAGS"
 
+if [ -n "$SAGE_FREETYPE_PREFIX" ]; then
+    LIBGD_CONFIGURE="--with-freetype=$SAGE_FREETYPE_PREFIX $LIBGD_CONFIGURE"
+else
+    LIBGD_CONFIGURE="--with-freetype=yes $LIBGD_CONFIGURE"
+fi
+
 # We explicitly disable X and fontconfig support, since (1) X is not a SAGE dependency,
 # and (2) the gd build fails on a lot of OS X PPC machines when X is enabled.
 sdh_configure --without-jpeg --without-xpm --without-x --without-fontconfig \
-              --with-zlib="$SAGE_LOCAL" --with-freetype="$SAGE_FREETYPE_PREFIX" \
-              $LIBGD_CONFIGURE
+              --with-zlib="$SAGE_LOCAL" $LIBGD_CONFIGURE
 sdh_make
 sdh_make_install