diff --git a/bindings/Makefile.local b/bindings/Makefile.local
index 11d11d4b..17b561ca 100644
--- a/bindings/Makefile.local
+++ b/bindings/Makefile.local
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ ifeq ($(HAVE_RUBY_DEV),1)
 	cd $(dir)/ruby && \
 		EXTRA_LDFLAGS="$(NO_UNDEFINED_LDFLAGS)" \
 		LIBNOTMUCH="../../lib/$(LINKER_NAME)" \
+		NOTMUCH_SRCDIR='$(NOTMUCH_SRCDIR)' \
 		ruby extconf.rb --vendor
 	$(MAKE) -C $(dir)/ruby
 endif
diff --git a/bindings/ruby/extconf.rb b/bindings/ruby/extconf.rb
index ddaa6841..161de5a2 100644
--- a/bindings/ruby/extconf.rb
+++ b/bindings/ruby/extconf.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 require 'mkmf'
 
-dir = File.join('..', '..', 'lib')
+dir = File.join(ENV['NOTMUCH_SRCDIR'], 'lib')
 
 # includes
 $INCFLAGS = "-I#{dir} #{$INCFLAGS}"
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index bcfa4167..6c782e16 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@ if [ "$srcdir" != "." ]; then
     # Emacs only likes to generate compiled files next to the .el files
     # by default so copy these as well (which is not ideal).
     cp -a "$srcdir"/emacs/*.el emacs
+
+    # We were not able to create fully working Makefile using ruby mkmf.rb
+    # so ruby bindings source files are copied as well (ditto -- not ideal).
+    mkdir bindings/ruby
+    cp -a "$srcdir"/bindings/ruby/*.[ch] bindings/ruby
+    cp -a "$srcdir"/bindings/ruby/extconf.rb bindings/ruby
 fi
 
 # Set several defaults (optionally specified by the user in
@@ -357,8 +363,8 @@ int main(void) {
     return 0;
 }
 EOF
-if ${CC} ${CFLAGS} _libversion.c -o _libversion > /dev/null 2>&1 && \
-       ./_libversion > _libversion.sh && . ./_libversion.sh
+if ${CC} ${CFLAGS} -I"$srcdir" _libversion.c -o _libversion > /dev/null 2>&1 \
+       && ./_libversion > _libversion.sh && . ./_libversion.sh
 then
     printf "OK.\n"
 else