diff --git a/src/pulsecore/atomic.h b/src/pulsecore/atomic.h
index 0e3bfb9ac..25d600c05 100644
--- a/src/pulsecore/atomic.h
+++ b/src/pulsecore/atomic.h
@@ -37,9 +37,8 @@
  * libatomic_ops
  */
 
-/* We have to include config.h here (for the __sync stuff), which sucks */
-#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
-#include <config.h>
+#ifndef PACKAGE
+#error "Please include config.h before including this file!"
 #endif
 
 #ifdef HAVE_ATOMIC_BUILTINS
diff --git a/src/pulsecore/creds.h b/src/pulsecore/creds.h
index e0a025bd0..51dfc33d5 100644
--- a/src/pulsecore/creds.h
+++ b/src/pulsecore/creds.h
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
 
-/* config.h must be included before this file */
+#ifndef PACKAGE
+#error "Please include config.h before including this file!"
+#endif
 
 #ifdef HAVE_SYS_SOCKET_H
 #include <sys/socket.h>
diff --git a/src/pulsecore/endianmacros.h b/src/pulsecore/endianmacros.h
index c0c3a6d8c..a29699b9c 100644
--- a/src/pulsecore/endianmacros.h
+++ b/src/pulsecore/endianmacros.h
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@
 
 #include <inttypes.h>
 
-#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
-#include <config.h>
+#ifndef PACKAGE
+#error "Please include config.h before including this file!"
 #endif
 
 #define INT16_SWAP(x) ( (int16_t) ( ((uint16_t) x >> 8) | ((uint16_t) x << 8) ) )
diff --git a/src/pulsecore/macro.h b/src/pulsecore/macro.h
index 53e52fd0e..c1bdb1408 100644
--- a/src/pulsecore/macro.h
+++ b/src/pulsecore/macro.h
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@
 
 #include <pulsecore/log.h>
 
+#ifndef PACKAGE
+#error "Please include config.h before including this file!"
+#endif
+
 #if defined(PAGE_SIZE)
 #define PA_PAGE_SIZE ((size_t) PAGE_SIZE)
 #elif defined(PAGESIZE)
diff --git a/src/pulsecore/thread.h b/src/pulsecore/thread.h
index a0e331beb..4e5425d6e 100644
--- a/src/pulsecore/thread.h
+++ b/src/pulsecore/thread.h
@@ -28,9 +28,8 @@
 #include <pulse/def.h>
 #include <pulsecore/once.h>
 
-/* We have to include config.h here (for the __tls stuff), which sucks */
-#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
-#include <config.h>
+#ifndef PACKAGE
+#error "Please include config.h before including this file!"
 #endif
 
 typedef struct pa_thread pa_thread;