diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 5acba9b1c9..dd28401190 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2676,6 +2676,8 @@ CYGWIN_EXTRA_LIBADD=
 CYGWIN_EXTRA_PYTHON_LIBADD=
 MINGW_EXTRA_LDFLAGS=
 WIN32_EXTRA_CFLAGS=
+dnl libvirt.syms is generated in builddir, but libvirt_qemu.syms is in git;
+dnl hence the asymmetric naming of these two symbol files.
 LIBVIRT_SYMBOL_FILE=libvirt.syms
 LIBVIRT_QEMU_SYMBOL_FILE='$(srcdir)/libvirt_qemu.syms'
 MSCOM_LIBS=
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index da571c7b97..8a4731b670 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -1564,7 +1564,6 @@ libvirt_qemu_la_LDFLAGS = $(VERSION_SCRIPT_FLAGS)$(LIBVIRT_QEMU_SYMBOL_FILE) \
 			  $(AM_LDFLAGS)
 libvirt_qemu_la_CFLAGS = $(AM_CFLAGS)
 libvirt_qemu_la_LIBADD = libvirt.la $(CYGWIN_EXTRA_LIBADD)
-EXTRA_DIST += $(LIBVIRT_QEMU_SYMBOL_FILE)
 
 lockdriverdir = $(libdir)/libvirt/lock-driver
 lockdriver_LTLIBRARIES =