diff --git a/opal/mca/event/libevent2013/libevent2013_module.c b/opal/mca/event/libevent2013/libevent2013_module.c
index 21facde446..fbd8b707eb 100644
--- a/opal/mca/event/libevent2013/libevent2013_module.c
+++ b/opal/mca/event/libevent2013/libevent2013_module.c
@@ -4,7 +4,16 @@
  */
 #include "opal_config.h"
 #include "opal/constants.h"
-#include "config.h"
+
+/* protect common defines */
+#undef PACKAGE_BUGREPORT
+#undef PACKAGE_NAME
+#undef PACKAGE_STRING
+#undef PACKAGE_TARNAME
+#undef PACKAGE_VERSION
+
+#include "libevent/config.h"
+
 
 #ifdef HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H
 #include <sys/types.h>