--- a/gnuradio-core/src/lib/general/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/gnuradio-core/src/lib/general/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@
 
 message(STATUS "Loading version ${VERSION} into gr_constants...")
 
-file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${GR_CONF_DIR}"     SYSCONFDIR)
-file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${GR_PKG_CONF_DIR}" GR_PREFSDIR)
+file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${GR_CONF_DIR}"     SYSCONFDIR)
+file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${GR_PKG_CONF_DIR}" GR_PREFSDIR)
 
 #double escape for windows backslash path separators
 string(REPLACE "\\" "\\\\" prefix ${prefix})
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@
 set(GR_PKG_DATA_DIR     ${GR_DATA_DIR}/${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME})
 set(GR_DOC_DIR          ${GR_DATA_DIR}/doc)
 set(GR_PKG_DOC_DIR      ${GR_DOC_DIR}/${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME}-${DOCVER})
-set(GR_CONF_DIR         etc)
+set(GR_CONF_DIR         /etc)
 set(GR_PKG_CONF_DIR     ${GR_CONF_DIR}/${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME}/conf.d)
 set(GR_LIBEXEC_DIR      libexec)
 set(GR_PKG_LIBEXEC_DIR  ${GR_LIBEXEC_DIR}/${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME})
