diff --git a/src/slurmctld/Makefile.am b/src/slurmctld/Makefile.am
index eb85a759a408c7c63bd2f7f963b50dd16681ed0a..79a6375eb4254098801c4a64c07c6995716ef595 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/slurmctld/Makefile.am
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
 CLEANFILES = core.*
 
-INCLUDES = -I$(top_srcdir)
+INCLUDES = -I$(top_srcdir) $(BG_INCLUDES)
 
 sbin_PROGRAMS = slurmctld
 
diff --git a/src/slurmctld/Makefile.in b/src/slurmctld/Makefile.in
index f2b830e557a6a4163de1fc6b04c7759e114eb2b8..75d9d02c7a41a328ed673ac51216d99cf161c912 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/Makefile.in
+++ b/src/slurmctld/Makefile.in
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ top_builddir = @top_builddir@
 top_srcdir = @top_srcdir@
 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
 CLEANFILES = core.*
-INCLUDES = -I$(top_srcdir)
+INCLUDES = -I$(top_srcdir) $(BG_INCLUDES)
 slurmctld_LDADD = \
 	$(top_builddir)/src/common/libdaemonize.la  \
 	$(top_builddir)/src/api/libslurm.o -ldl