diff --git a/ompi/mpi/cxx/mpicxx.cc b/ompi/mpi/cxx/mpicxx.cc
index f452654a93..3bfb109abe 100644
--- a/ompi/mpi/cxx/mpicxx.cc
+++ b/ompi/mpi/cxx/mpicxx.cc
@@ -18,14 +18,10 @@
 // 
 // $HEADER$
 
-#include <stdio.h>
-static const int ompi_stdio_seek_set = SEEK_SET;
-static const int ompi_stdio_seek_cur = SEEK_CUR;
-static const int ompi_stdio_seek_end = SEEK_END;
-
 #include "mpicxx.h"
 
-/* Need to include ompi_config.h after mpicxx.h... */
+/* Need to include ompi_config.h after mpicxx.h so that we get
+   SEEK_SET and friends right */
 #include "ompi_config.h"
 
 #if OMPI_CXX_USE_PRAGMA_IDENT
@@ -39,13 +35,6 @@ namespace MPI {
 
 #include "ompi/errhandler/errhandler.h"
 
-#if OMPI_PROVIDE_MPI_FILE_INTERFACE && OMPI_WANT_MPI_CXX_SEEK
-
-const int SEEK_SET = ompi_stdio_seek_set;
-const int SEEK_CUR = ompi_stdio_seek_cur;
-const int SEEK_END = ompi_stdio_seek_end;
-#endif
-
 namespace MPI {
 
 #if ! OMPI_HAVE_CXX_EXCEPTION_SUPPORT
diff --git a/ompi/mpi/cxx/mpicxx.h b/ompi/mpi/cxx/mpicxx.h
index 3070eb45c1..fa603a19cf 100644
--- a/ompi/mpi/cxx/mpicxx.h
+++ b/ompi/mpi/cxx/mpicxx.h
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@
 // a #define (it's used in an enum).
 #include <iostream>
 
+static const int ompi_stdio_seek_set = SEEK_SET;
+static const int ompi_stdio_seek_cur = SEEK_CUR;
+static const int ompi_stdio_seek_end = SEEK_END;
+
 // smash SEEK_* #defines
 #ifdef SEEK_SET
 #undef SEEK_SET
@@ -57,9 +61,9 @@
 #endif
 
 // make globally scoped constants to replace smashed #defines
-extern const int SEEK_SET;
-extern const int SEEK_CUR;
-extern const int SEEK_END;
+static const int SEEK_SET = ompi_stdio_seek_set;
+static const int SEEK_CUR = ompi_stdio_seek_cur;
+static const int SEEK_END = ompi_stdio_seek_end;
 #endif
 
 // forward declare so that we can still do inlining