diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 07cb902..e94fe19 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -18,6 +18,12 @@
 #  IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
 #  CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 
+# During distcheck, system locations (as provided by pkg-config) are
+# not writable; provide instead relative locations.
+DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = \
+	--with-sdkdir='$${includedir}/xorg' \
+	--with-xorg-conf-dir='$${sysconfdir}/xorg'
+
 MAINTAINERCLEANFILES = ChangeLog INSTALL
 
 pkgconfigdir = $(libdir)/pkgconfig
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index dfef591..bf99958 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -146,6 +146,11 @@ if test "x$have_libxtst" = "xyes" ; then
 fi
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+# Workaround overriding sdkdir to be able to create a tarball when user has no
+# write permission in sdkdir. See DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS in Makefile.am
+AC_ARG_WITH([sdkdir], [], [sdkdir="$withval"])
+AC_SUBST([sdkdir])
+
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile
                 xorg-synaptics.pc])
 AC_OUTPUT