diff --git a/config/opal_configure_options.m4 b/config/opal_configure_options.m4
index a28d52b0a4..31a2c650ac 100644
--- a/config/opal_configure_options.m4
+++ b/config/opal_configure_options.m4
@@ -431,18 +431,18 @@ AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([OPAL_WANT_HOME_CONFIG_FILES], [$result],
      [Enable per-user config files])
 
 #
-# Do we want to disable IPv6 support?
+# Do we want to enable IPv6 support?
 #
 AC_MSG_CHECKING([if want IPv6 support])
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([ipv6],
-    [AC_HELP_STRING([--disable-ipv6],
-        [Disable IPv6 support (default: enabled, but only if the underlying system supports it)])])
-if test "$enable_ipv6" = "no"; then
+    [AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-ipv6],
+        [Enable IPv6 support, but only if the underlying system supports it (default: disabled)])])
+if test "$enable_ipv6" = "yes"; then
+    AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
+    opal_want_ipv6=1
+else
     AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
     opal_want_ipv6=0
-else
-    AC_MSG_RESULT([yes (if underlying system supports it)])
-    opal_want_ipv6=1
 fi
 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([OPAL_ENABLE_IPV6], [$opal_want_ipv6],
                    [Enable IPv6 support, but only if the underlying system supports it])