diff --git a/src/include/sys/powerpc/atomic.h b/src/include/sys/powerpc/atomic.h
index 419143d5f7..521f501052 100644
--- a/src/include/sys/powerpc/atomic.h
+++ b/src/include/sys/powerpc/atomic.h
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
  * On powerpc ...
  */
 
-#ifdef HAVE_SMP
+#if OMPI_WANT_SMP_LOCKS
 
 #define MB()  __asm__ __volatile__ ("sync" : : : "memory")
 #define RMB() __asm__ __volatile__ ("lwsync" : : : "memory")
diff --git a/src/include/sys/powerpc/update.sh b/src/include/sys/powerpc/update.sh
index a8cf4c2aff..2badc71972 100644
--- a/src/include/sys/powerpc/update.sh
+++ b/src/include/sys/powerpc/update.sh
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ cat > $CFILE<<EOF
 #define inline
 #define OMPI_GCC_INLINE_ASSEMBLY 1
 #define OMPI_ASSEMBLY_ARCH OMPI_POWERPC32
+#define OMPI_WANT_SMP_LOCKS 1
 #include "../architecture.h"
 #include "atomic.h"
 EOF