diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 00825cd270..574fedea6b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -84,8 +84,7 @@ endif
 
 include $(SRC_PATH)/rules.mak
 
-# notempy and lor are defined in rules.mak
-CONFIG_TOOLS := $(call notempty,$(TOOLS))
+# lor is defined in rules.mak
 CONFIG_BLOCK := $(call lor,$(CONFIG_SOFTMMU),$(CONFIG_TOOLS))
 
 # Create QEMU_PKGVERSION and FULL_VERSION strings
@@ -809,7 +808,7 @@ ifdef CONFIG_POSIX
 	$(INSTALL_DATA) docs/interop/qemu-qmp-ref.7 "$(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man7"
 	$(INSTALL_DATA) docs/qemu-block-drivers.7 "$(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man7"
 	$(INSTALL_DATA) docs/qemu-cpu-models.7 "$(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man7"
-ifneq ($(TOOLS),)
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_TOOLS),y)
 	$(INSTALL_DATA) qemu-img.1 "$(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man1"
 	$(INSTALL_DIR) "$(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man8"
 	$(INSTALL_DATA) qemu-nbd.8 "$(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man8"
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index e96981bbf8..b7f4283451 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -6617,6 +6617,9 @@ fi
 if test "$profiler" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_PROFILER=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
+if test "$want_tools" = "yes" ; then
+  echo "CONFIG_TOOLS=y" >> $config_host_mak
+fi
 if test "$slirp" != "no"; then
   echo "CONFIG_SLIRP=y" >> $config_host_mak
   echo "CONFIG_SMBD_COMMAND=\"$smbd\"" >> $config_host_mak