diff --git a/boehm_gc/build_atomic_ops.sh b/boehm_gc/build_atomic_ops.sh
index faf19d0e85..638190b82d 100755
--- a/boehm_gc/build_atomic_ops.sh
+++ b/boehm_gc/build_atomic_ops.sh
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@ P=`pwd`/libatomic_ops-install
 cd libatomic_ops
 # Mercury-specific: allow additional arguments.
 ./configure --prefix=$P "$@"
-$MAKE CC="$CC" install
+$MAKE CC="$CC" DESTDIR= install
diff --git a/boehm_gc/build_atomic_ops.sh.cygwin b/boehm_gc/build_atomic_ops.sh.cygwin
index 158a3f3cd3..d9b963f687 100755
--- a/boehm_gc/build_atomic_ops.sh.cygwin
+++ b/boehm_gc/build_atomic_ops.sh.cygwin
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Q=`mktemp -d`
 ln -s "$P" $Q/dir
 cd $Q/dir/libatomic_ops
 ./configure --prefix=$Q/dir/libatomic_ops-install
-$MAKE CC="$CC" install
+$MAKE CC="$CC" DESTDIR= install
 cd /
 rm $Q/dir
 rmdir $Q
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 3309b0923a..9469df6f99 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1164,6 +1164,9 @@ AC_SUBST(LINK_OPT_SEP)
 AC_SUBST(FIX_PATH_FOR_CC)
 AC_SUBST(CYGPATH)
 
+lispdir='${datarootdir}/emacs/site-lisp'
+AC_SUBST(lispdir)
+
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
 # Check for `-lm': some systems, e.g. MacOS X (Darwin), don't have it.
 # The result of this check may be overridden below.
diff --git a/deep_profiler/DEEP_FLAGS.in b/deep_profiler/DEEP_FLAGS.in
index d73d03aff3..cda923a4ec 100644
--- a/deep_profiler/DEEP_FLAGS.in
+++ b/deep_profiler/DEEP_FLAGS.in
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 -I../library
 -I../browser
 -I../ssdb
+-I../mdbcomp
 --c-include-directory ../boehm_gc
 --c-include-directory ../boehm_gc/include
 --c-include-directory ../runtime
@@ -15,6 +16,8 @@
 --c-include-directory ../browser/Mercury/mihs
 --c-include-directory ../ssdb
 --c-include-directory ../ssdb/Mercury/mihs
+--c-include-directory ../mdbcomp
+--c-include-directory ../mdbcomp/Mercury/mihs
 --c-include-directory ../trace
 --csharp-flag -keyfile:../mercury.snk
 --no-java-classpath
diff --git a/deep_profiler/Mmakefile b/deep_profiler/Mmakefile
index c43fc0903a..2bdf85c857 100644
--- a/deep_profiler/Mmakefile
+++ b/deep_profiler/Mmakefile
@@ -54,23 +54,7 @@ else
 	INSTALL=nothing
 endif
 
-VPATH = $(LIBRARY_DIR) $(SSDB_DIR)
-
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
-
-MDBCOMP_MODULES = \
-	feedback.automatic_parallelism.m \
-	feedback.m \
-	mdbcomp.m \
-	mdbcomp.goal_path.m \
-	prim_data.m \
-	program_representation.m \
-	rtti_access.m \
-	shared_utilities.m \
-	slice_and_dice.m \
-	trace_counts.m
-
-MDBCOMP_ORIG_MODULES = $(patsubst %,$(MDBCOMP_DIR)/%,$(MDBCOMP_MODULES))
+VPATH = $(LIBRARY_DIR) $(MDBCOMP_DIR) $(SSDB_DIR)
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
 
@@ -107,9 +91,9 @@ endif
 nothing:
 
 .PHONY: depend
-depend:	$(MDBCOMP_MODULES) $(DEPEND)
+depend:	$(DEPEND)
 
-$(DEPEND): DEEP_FLAGS $(MDBCOMP_MODULES) Mercury.modules
+$(DEPEND): DEEP_FLAGS Mercury.modules
 
 # This directory contains source files for which the module
 # name doesn't match the file name, so smart recompilation
@@ -119,19 +103,7 @@ Mercury.modules: DEEP_FLAGS
 	$(MC) $(ALL_GRADEFLAGS) $(ALL_MCFLAGS) -f *.m
 
 .PHONY: all
-all:	$(MDBCOMP_MODULES) $(ALL_DEEP_MODULES) $(TAGS_FILE_EXISTS)
-
-# We need to start by turning write permission on for each copied file
-# in case some exist, but we need to ignore errors in case some don't exist.
-# The exit 0 is to prevent make itself from printing a message about the
-# (ignored) failure of an action.
-#
-# We could modify the action here to copy only the changed files.
-
-$(MDBCOMP_MODULES): $(MDBCOMP_ORIG_MODULES)
-	-@chmod a+w $(MDBCOMP_MODULES) > /dev/null 2>&1; exit 0
-	cp $(MDBCOMP_ORIG_MODULES) .
-	@chmod a-w $(MDBCOMP_MODULES)
+all:	$(ALL_DEEP_MODULES) $(TAGS_FILE_EXISTS)
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
 
@@ -231,8 +203,7 @@ cs: $(mdprof_procrep.cs) $(cs_subdir)mdprof_procrep_init.c
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
 
 realclean_local:
-	rm -f .deep_tags tags DEEP_FLAGS DEEP_FLAGS.date \
-		$(MDBCOMP_MODULES) mdbcomp.*.err
+	rm -f .deep_tags tags DEEP_FLAGS DEEP_FLAGS.date
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
 
diff --git a/scripts/Mmake.vars.in b/scripts/Mmake.vars.in
index f808d21b5f..4d8224e85c 100644
--- a/scripts/Mmake.vars.in
+++ b/scripts/Mmake.vars.in
@@ -691,26 +691,37 @@ else
     DESTDIR_AND_SLASH=$(DESTDIR)/
 endif
 
-INSTALL_PREFIX		= $(DESTDIR_AND_SLASH)@prefix@
+# autoconf provided vars
+prefix = @prefix@
+exec_prefix = @exec_prefix@
+libdir = @libdir@
+datarootdir = @datarootdir@
+mandir = @mandir@
+infodir = @infodir@
+lispdir = @lispdir@
+
+# actual vars used for installation
+
+INSTALL_PREFIX		= $(DESTDIR_AND_SLASH)$(prefix)
 INSTALL_BINDIR		= $(INSTALL_PREFIX)/bin
-INSTALL_LIBDIR		= $(INSTALL_PREFIX)/lib/mercury
-INSTALL_INFO_DIR	= $(INSTALL_PREFIX)/info
-INSTALL_DVI_DIR		= $(INSTALL_PREFIX)/lib/mercury/doc
-INSTALL_TEXT_DIR	= $(INSTALL_PREFIX)/lib/mercury/doc
-INSTALL_PS_DIR		= $(INSTALL_PREFIX)/lib/mercury/doc
-INSTALL_PDF_DIR		= $(INSTALL_PREFIX)/lib/mercury/doc
-INSTALL_MAN_DIR		= $(INSTALL_PREFIX)/man
-INSTALL_HTML_DIR	= $(INSTALL_PREFIX)/lib/mercury/html
-INSTALL_MDB_DOC_DIR	= $(INSTALL_PREFIX)/lib/mercury/mdb
-INSTALL_ELISP_DIR	= $(INSTALL_PREFIX)/lib/mercury/elisp
+INSTALL_LIBDIR		= $(DESTDIR_AND_SLASH)$(libdir)/mercury
+INSTALL_INFO_DIR	= $(infodir)
+INSTALL_DVI_DIR		= $(INSTALL_LIBDIR)/doc
+INSTALL_TEXT_DIR	= $(INSTALL_LIBDIR)/doc
+INSTALL_PS_DIR		= $(INSTALL_LIBDIR)/doc
+INSTALL_PDF_DIR		= $(INSTALL_LIBDIR)/doc
+INSTALL_MAN_DIR		= $(DESTDIR_AND_SLASH)$(mandir)
+INSTALL_HTML_DIR	= $(INSTALL_LIBDIR)/html
+INSTALL_MDB_DOC_DIR	= $(INSTALL_LIBDIR)/mdb
+INSTALL_ELISP_DIR	= $(DESTDIR_AND_SLASH)$(lispdir)
 INSTALL_CGI_DIR		= $(DESTDIR_AND_SLASH)@CGIDIR@
 
-FINAL_INSTALL_PREFIX	= @prefix@
+FINAL_INSTALL_PREFIX	= $(prefix)
 FINAL_INSTALL_BINDIR 	= $(FINAL_INSTALL_PREFIX)/bin
-FINAL_INSTALL_LIBDIR	= $(FINAL_INSTALL_PREFIX)/lib/mercury
-FINAL_INSTALL_INFO_DIR	= $(FINAL_INSTALL_PREFIX)/info
-FINAL_INSTALL_MAN_DIR	= $(FINAL_INSTALL_PREFIX)/man
-FINAL_INSTALL_ELISP_DIR	= $(FINAL_INSTALL_PREFIX)/lib/mercury/elisp
+FINAL_INSTALL_LIBDIR	= $(libdir)/mercury
+FINAL_INSTALL_INFO_DIR	= $(infodir)
+FINAL_INSTALL_MAN_DIR	= $(mandir)
+FINAL_INSTALL_ELISP_DIR	= $(lispdir)
 FINAL_INSTALL_CGI_DIR	= @CGIDIR@
 
 # You should not need to override anything below here
diff --git a/scripts/mmc.in b/scripts/mmc.in
index 510e018a4c..d9d0e8b18a 100644
--- a/scripts/mmc.in
+++ b/scripts/mmc.in
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@
 # MERCURY_COMPILER, MERCURY_C_COMPILER, MERCURY_DEFAULT_GRADE,
 # MERCURY_DEFAULT_OPT_LEVEL.
 
-MERCURY_COMPILER=${MERCURY_COMPILER-'@PREFIX@/bin/mercury_compile'}
-MERCURY_CONFIG_DIR=${MERCURY_CONFIG_DIR-${MERCURY_STDLIB_DIR-'@CONFIG_LIBDIR@'}}
+MERCURY_COMPILER=${MERCURY_COMPILER-${DESTDIR}'@PREFIX@/bin/mercury_compile'}
+MERCURY_CONFIG_DIR=${MERCURY_CONFIG_DIR-${DESTDIR}${MERCURY_STDLIB_DIR-'@CONFIG_LIBDIR@'}}
 export MERCURY_COMPILER MERCURY_CONFIG_DIR
 
 # Set the MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET environment variable if needed.
diff --git a/slice/Mmakefile b/slice/Mmakefile
index cdfca105b0..7ef40e4e99 100644
--- a/slice/Mmakefile
+++ b/slice/Mmakefile
@@ -42,23 +42,7 @@ INTS	= $(patsubst %,%.ints,$(MERCURY_MAIN_MODULES))
 INT3S	= $(patsubst %,%.int3s,$(MERCURY_MAIN_MODULES))
 CHECKS	= $(patsubst %,%.check,$(MERCURY_MAIN_MODULES))
 
-VPATH = $(LIBRARY_DIR) $(SSDB_DIR)
-
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
-
-MDBCOMP_MODULES = \
-	feedback.automatic_parallelism.m \
-	feedback.m \
-	mdbcomp.m \
-	mdbcomp.goal_path.m \
-	prim_data.m \
-	program_representation.m \
-	rtti_access.m \
-	shared_utilities.m \
-	slice_and_dice.m \
-	trace_counts.m
-
-MDBCOMP_ORIG_MODULES = $(patsubst %,$(MDBCOMP_DIR)/%,$(MDBCOMP_MODULES))
+VPATH = $(LIBRARY_DIR) $(MDBCOMP_DIR) $(SSDB_DIR)
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
 
@@ -82,26 +66,12 @@ endif
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
 
 .PHONY: depend
-depend:	$(MDBCOMP_MODULES) $(DEPENDS)
+depend:	$(DEPENDS)
 
-$(DEPENDS): SLICE_FLAGS $(MDBCOMP_MODULES)
+$(DEPENDS): SLICE_FLAGS
 
 .PHONY: all
-all:	$(MDBCOMP_MODULES) $(MERCURY_MAIN_MODULES) $(TAGS_FILE_EXISTS)
-
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
-#
-# We need to start by turning write permission on for each copied file
-# in case some exist, but we need to ignore errors in case some don't exist.
-# The exit 0 is to prevent make itself from printing a message about the
-# (ignored) failure of an action.
-#
-# We could modify the action here to copy only the changed files.
-
-$(MDBCOMP_MODULES): $(MDBCOMP_ORIG_MODULES)
-	-@chmod a+w $(MDBCOMP_MODULES) > /dev/null 2>&1; exit 0
-	cp $(MDBCOMP_ORIG_MODULES) .
-	@chmod a-w $(MDBCOMP_MODULES)
+all:	$(MERCURY_MAIN_MODULES) $(TAGS_FILE_EXISTS)
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
 
@@ -157,7 +127,8 @@ ints:	$(INTS)
 tags:	.slice_tags
 
 .slice_tags: $(MTAGS) $(mslice.ms) $(mdice.ms) $(mtc_union.ms) $(mcov.ms) \
-		$(mtc_diff.ms) $(wildcard $(LIBRARY_DIR)/*.m)
+		$(mtc_diff.ms) $(wildcard $(LIBRARY_DIR)/*.m) \
+		$(wildcard $(MDBCOMP_DIR)/*.m)
 	$(MTAGS) $(mslice.ms) $(mdice.ms) $(mtc_union.ms) $(mcov.ms) \
 		$(mtc_diff.ms) $(LIBRARY_DIR)/*.m
 	@touch .slice_tags
@@ -194,8 +165,7 @@ ils:	$(mslice.ils) $(mdice.ils) $(mtc_union.ils) $(mcov.ils) $(mtc_diff.ils)
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
 
 realclean_local:
-	rm -f tags SLICE_FLAGS SLICE_FLAGS.date \
-		$(MDBCOMP_MODULES) mdbcomp.*.err
+	rm -f tags SLICE_FLAGS SLICE_FLAGS.date
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
 
diff --git a/slice/SLICE_FLAGS.in b/slice/SLICE_FLAGS.in
index 2a4321c5eb..78bde9e19a 100644
--- a/slice/SLICE_FLAGS.in
+++ b/slice/SLICE_FLAGS.in
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 -I../library
 -I../browser
 -I../ssdb
+-I../mdbcomp
 --c-include-directory ../boehm_gc
 --c-include-directory ../boehm_gc/include
 --c-include-directory ../runtime
@@ -15,6 +16,8 @@
 --c-include-directory ../browser/Mercury/mihs
 --c-include-directory ../ssdb
 --c-include-directory ../ssdb/Mercury/mihs
+--c-include-directory ../mdbcomp
+--c-include-directory ../mdbcomp/Mercury/mihs
 --c-include-directory ../trace
 --csharp-flag -keyfile:../mercury.snk
 --no-java-classpath