diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gdbm/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gdbm/package.py
index a1529855c3..9a5f1bd12e 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gdbm/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gdbm/package.py
@@ -45,10 +45,12 @@ class Gdbm(AutotoolsPackage):
 
     depends_on("readline")
 
+    def setup_environment(self, spack_env, run_env):
+        spack_env.set('CC', spack_cc)
+
     def configure_args(self):
         config_args = [
             '--enable-libgdbm-compat',
-            'CC=%s' % spack_cc
         ]
 
         return config_args