diff --git a/config.h.in b/config.h.in
index 36e919bb707b7165ea79319ab0d4b0d789809ce1..8d7355dc4c1e0361169b880c3d52f9dba473ce59 100644
--- a/config.h.in
+++ b/config.h.in
@@ -435,10 +435,6 @@
    dimension */
 #undef SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS
 
-#ifndef SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS
-#define SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS 1
-#endif
-
 /* Define to 1 if you can safely include both <sys/time.h> and <time.h>. */
 #undef TIME_WITH_SYS_TIME
 
diff --git a/src/common/hostlist.c b/src/common/hostlist.c
index 8d38f22e9b969d686ebf9f705ada7aba454a8321..87f6ac4dc554471927da81e788d6605198a4a7f5 100644
--- a/src/common/hostlist.c
+++ b/src/common/hostlist.c
@@ -265,6 +265,10 @@ struct _range {
 char *alpha_num = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
 enum {A, B, C, D};
 
+#ifndef SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS
+#  define SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS 1
+#endif
+
 #if (SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS > 1)
 /* logic for block node description */
 
diff --git a/src/common/proc_args.c b/src/common/proc_args.c
index 7c0ce5489891ab546a2f69f9eff4b55569c1b206..8ee70394e13e4c276c16b4e329bd78ef355041bf 100644
--- a/src/common/proc_args.c
+++ b/src/common/proc_args.c
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@
 #  define _GNU_SOURCE
 #endif
 
+#ifndef SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS
+#  define SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS 1
+#endif
+
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>		/* va_start   */
 #include <stdio.h>
diff --git a/src/salloc/opt.h b/src/salloc/opt.h
index 3fbfd6d297f0d919c57dedf7d79910bad440ff75..1772de9dc7c46c005767a1669f48b9251a97b991 100644
--- a/src/salloc/opt.h
+++ b/src/salloc/opt.h
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@
 #include "src/common/env.h"
 #include "src/common/macros.h" /* true and false */
 
+#ifndef SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS
+#  define SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS 1
+#endif
+
 #define DEFAULT_IMMEDIATE	1
 #define MAX_USERNAME		9
 #define DEFAULT_BELL_DELAY	10
diff --git a/src/sbatch/opt.h b/src/sbatch/opt.h
index 16d08a8f640c12b3bd18bbf1fbca9d781365fa9b..dde2d8f1bd247530355a48df6f9bcb0b15c3ea57 100644
--- a/src/sbatch/opt.h
+++ b/src/sbatch/opt.h
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@
 #include "src/common/macros.h" /* true and false */
 #include "src/common/env.h"
 
+#ifndef SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS
+#  define SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS 1
+#endif
+
 #define MAX_USERNAME	9
 
 
diff --git a/src/smap/smap.h b/src/smap/smap.h
index 97d46c5d6d2a2e8691b5b7af98f3d30d0083319a..2f91ce8954730125fb962926753de04deee3ac47 100644
--- a/src/smap/smap.h
+++ b/src/smap/smap.h
@@ -81,6 +81,9 @@
 #ifdef lines
 #  undef lines
 #endif
+#ifndef SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS
+#  define SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS 1
+#endif
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <pwd.h>
diff --git a/src/srun/opt.h b/src/srun/opt.h
index adabce9233eb5db382cd5d5f38f08d2be7f78db3..58c8316cb2435dd7738562d7d91df09aef354449 100644
--- a/src/srun/opt.h
+++ b/src/srun/opt.h
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@
 #  include "config.h"
 #endif
 
+#ifndef SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS
+#  define SYSTEM_DIMENSIONS 1
+#endif
+
 #include <time.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <unistd.h>