diff --git a/open-vm-tools/configure.ac b/open-vm-tools/configure.ac
index 26b2e9500..8eabe4802 100644
--- a/open-vm-tools/configure.ac
+++ b/open-vm-tools/configure.ac
@@ -884,7 +884,7 @@ if test "$enable_vgauth" = "yes" ; then
                      [],
                      [xmlsec/xmlsec.h],
                      [xmlSecCheckVersionExt],
-                     [XMLSEC1_VER=`pkg-config --modversion xmlsec1`
+                     [XMLSEC1_VER=`$PKG_CONFIG --modversion xmlsec1`
                       xmlsec1_major_version="`echo $XMLSEC1_VER | cut -f1 -d. | cut -f1 -d-`"
                       xmlsec1_minor_version="`echo $XMLSEC1_VER | cut -f2 -d. | cut -f1 -d-`"
                       xmlsec1_micro_version="`echo $XMLSEC1_VER | cut -f3 -d. | cut -f1 -d-`"