diff --git a/build-crosstool-ng b/build-crosstool-ng
index 329261f..7d476f8 100755
--- a/build-crosstool-ng
+++ b/build-crosstool-ng
@@ -38,7 +38,10 @@ Build crosstool-NG with Newlib for bare metal compilation
         )
         self.sh.run_cmd(
             [
-                os.path.join(self.env['crosstool_ng_source_copy_dir'], 'configure'), LF,
+                # abspath here makes Ubuntu 16.04 fail with:
+                # configure: error: source directory already configured; run "make distclean" there first
+                # after another build has been done. Don't ask me why.
+                os.path.join(os.curdir, 'configure'), LF,
                 '--enable-local', LF,
             ],
         )