diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openmpi/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openmpi/package.py
index 1db70d7b93..3be975dca7 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openmpi/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openmpi/package.py
@@ -620,11 +620,6 @@ def autoreconf(self, spec, prefix):
         perl = which('perl')
         perl('autogen.pl')
 
-    def setup_build_environment(self, env):
-        if '~gpfs' in self.spec:
-            env.set('ac_cv_header_gpfs_h', 'no')
-            env.set('ac_cv_header_gpfs_fcntl_h', 'no')
-
     def configure_args(self):
         spec = self.spec
         config_args = [
@@ -734,6 +729,11 @@ def configure_args(self):
         if '~romio' in spec:
             config_args.append('--disable-io-romio')
 
+        if '+gpfs' in spec:
+            config_args.append('--with-gpfs')
+        else:
+            config_args.append('--with-gpfs=no')
+
         # SQLite3 support
         if spec.satisfies('@1.7.3:1'):
             if '+sqlite3' in spec: