diff --git a/lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm b/lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm
index 822f521ca..f5fc335b7 100644
--- a/lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm
+++ b/lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm
@@ -1155,20 +1155,19 @@ sub check_hints {
 }
 
 sub _run_hintfile {
-    our $self;
-    local($self) = shift;       # make $self available to the hint file.
-    my($hint_file) = shift;
+    my ($self, $hint_file) = @_;
 
     local($@, $!);
     print "Processing hints file $hint_file\n" if $Verbose;
 
     # Just in case the ./ isn't on the hint file, which File::Spec can
     # often strip off, we bung the curdir into @INC
-    local @INC = (File::Spec->curdir, @INC);
-    my $ret = do $hint_file;
-    if( !defined $ret ) {
-        my $error = $@ || $!;
-        warn $error;
+    if(open(my $fh, '<', $hint_file)) {
+        eval join('', <$fh>);
+        warn "Failed to run hint file $hint_file: $@" if $@;
+    }
+    else {
+        warn "Could not open $hint_file for read: $!";
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/t/hints.t b/t/hints.t
index 6b3cf7374..7689e379a 100644
--- a/t/hints.t
+++ b/t/hints.t
@@ -61,9 +61,7 @@ CLOO
     local $SIG{__WARN__} = sub { $stderr .= join '', @_ };
 
     $mm->check_hints;
-    is( $stderr, <<OUT, 'hint files produce errors' );
-Argh!
-OUT
+    like( $stderr, qr{^Failed to run hint file hints\S+\.pl: Argh!\n\z}, 'hint files produce errors' );
 }
 
 END {