diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 20a603682b..7963b0433f 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -170,9 +170,6 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE([legacy],
   [enable_legacy=$enableval],
   [enable_legacy="yes"])
 AC_MSG_RESULT([$enable_legacy])
-if test "$enable_legacy" = "no"; then
-  AC_DEFINE([DISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE], [], [Disable the legacy OCR engine])
-fi
 AM_CONDITIONAL([DISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE], test "$enable_legacy" = "no")
 
 # check whether to build embedded version
diff --git a/src/api/Makefile.am b/src/api/Makefile.am
index 059d1818e1..8218fae567 100644
--- a/src/api/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/api/Makefile.am
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS += -DLOCALEDIR=\"$(localedir)\" \
 
 AM_CPPFLAGS += $(OPENCL_CPPFLAGS)
 
+if DISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
+AM_CPPFLAGS += -DDISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
+endif
+
 if VISIBILITY
 AM_CPPFLAGS += -fvisibility=hidden -fvisibility-inlines-hidden
 endif
diff --git a/src/api/capi.cpp b/src/api/capi.cpp
index b2c514fe48..4d60f395d8 100644
--- a/src/api/capi.cpp
+++ b/src/api/capi.cpp
@@ -299,10 +299,12 @@ TESS_API char** TESS_CALL TessBaseAPIGetAvailableLanguagesAsVector(const TessBas
     return arr;
 }
 
+#ifndef DISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
 TESS_API int TESS_CALL TessBaseAPIInitLangMod(TessBaseAPI* handle, const char* datapath, const char* language)
 {
     return handle->InitLangMod(datapath, language);
 }
+#endif
 
 TESS_API void TESS_CALL TessBaseAPIInitForAnalysePage(TessBaseAPI* handle)
 {
@@ -336,10 +338,12 @@ TESS_API char* TESS_CALL TessBaseAPIRect(TessBaseAPI* handle, const unsigned cha
     return handle->TesseractRect(imagedata, bytes_per_pixel, bytes_per_line, left, top, width, height);
 }
 
+#ifndef DISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
 TESS_API void TESS_CALL TessBaseAPIClearAdaptiveClassifier(TessBaseAPI* handle)
 {
     handle->ClearAdaptiveClassifier();
 }
+#endif
 
 TESS_API void TESS_CALL TessBaseAPISetImage(TessBaseAPI* handle, const unsigned char* imagedata, int width, int height,
                                                   int bytes_per_pixel, int bytes_per_line)
@@ -543,6 +547,8 @@ TESS_API BOOL TESS_CALL TessBaseAPIDetectOS(TessBaseAPI* handle, OSResults* resu
     return FALSE; // Unsafe ABI, return FALSE always
 }
 
+#ifndef DISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
+
 TESS_API BOOL TESS_CALL TessBaseAPIDetectOrientationScript(TessBaseAPI* handle,
                                                             int* orient_deg, float* orient_conf, const char** script_name, float* script_conf)
 {
@@ -551,8 +557,6 @@ TESS_API BOOL TESS_CALL TessBaseAPIDetectOrientationScript(TessBaseAPI* handle,
     return (BOOL)success;
 }
 
-#ifndef DISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
-
 TESS_API void TESS_CALL TessBaseAPIGetFeaturesForBlob(TessBaseAPI* handle, TBLOB* blob, INT_FEATURE_STRUCT* int_features,
                                                             int* num_features, int* FeatureOutlineIndex)
 {
diff --git a/src/ccmain/Makefile.am b/src/ccmain/Makefile.am
index 6a0986a778..7bcb175b5b 100644
--- a/src/ccmain/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/ccmain/Makefile.am
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS += \
 AM_CPPFLAGS += $(OPENCL_CPPFLAGS)
 AM_CPPFLAGS += $(OPENMP_CXXFLAGS)
 
+if DISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
+AM_CPPFLAGS += -DDISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
+endif
+
 if VISIBILITY
 AM_CPPFLAGS += -DTESS_EXPORTS \
     -fvisibility=hidden -fvisibility-inlines-hidden
diff --git a/src/classify/Makefile.am b/src/classify/Makefile.am
index fd3322836e..0c1150a794 100644
--- a/src/classify/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/classify/Makefile.am
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS += \
     -I$(top_srcdir)/src/dict \
     -I$(top_srcdir)/src/viewer
     
+if DISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
+AM_CPPFLAGS += -DDISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
+endif
+
 if VISIBILITY
 AM_CPPFLAGS += -DTESS_EXPORTS \
     -fvisibility=hidden -fvisibility-inlines-hidden
diff --git a/src/training/Makefile.am b/src/training/Makefile.am
index b482c0ae6d..ecbc2541c6 100644
--- a/src/training/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/training/Makefile.am
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS += \
 
 EXTRA_DIST = language-specific.sh tesstrain.sh tesstrain_utils.sh
 
+if DISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
+AM_CPPFLAGS += -DDISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
+endif
+
 # TODO: training programs can not be linked to shared library created 
 # with -fvisibility 
 if VISIBILITY
diff --git a/src/wordrec/Makefile.am b/src/wordrec/Makefile.am
index cb67968992..ef1beaf0c7 100644
--- a/src/wordrec/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/wordrec/Makefile.am
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS += \
     -I$(top_srcdir)/src/dict \
     -I$(top_srcdir)/src/viewer
 
+if DISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
+AM_CPPFLAGS += -DDISABLED_LEGACY_ENGINE
+endif
+
 if VISIBILITY
 AM_CPPFLAGS += -DTESS_EXPORTS \
     -fvisibility=hidden -fvisibility-inlines-hidden