diff --git a/lib/App/Sqitch/Config.pm b/lib/App/Sqitch/Config.pm
index 832fba37b..893c829f6 100644
--- a/lib/App/Sqitch/Config.pm
+++ b/lib/App/Sqitch/Config.pm
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ use v5.10.1;
 use Moose;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
-use Config;
 use Path::Class;
 use Carp;
 use utf8;
@@ -17,6 +16,8 @@ has '+confname' => (
     default => 'sqitch.conf',
 );
 
+my $SYSTEM_DIR = undef;
+
 sub user_dir {
     require File::HomeDir;
     my $hd = File::HomeDir->my_home or croak(
@@ -26,7 +27,10 @@ sub user_dir {
 }
 
 sub system_dir {
-    dir $Config{prefix}, 'etc', 'sqitch';
+    dir $SYSTEM_DIR || do {
+        require Config;
+        $Config::Config{prefix}, 'etc', 'sqitch';
+    };
 }
 
 sub system_file {
diff --git a/priv/Module/Build/Sqitch.pm b/priv/Module/Build/Sqitch.pm
index ac6b84cfe..7aef7438a 100644
--- a/priv/Module/Build/Sqitch.pm
+++ b/priv/Module/Build/Sqitch.pm
@@ -37,4 +37,20 @@ sub process_etc_files {
     }
 }
 
+sub process_pm_files {
+    my $self = shift;
+    my $ret  = $self->SUPER::process_pm_files(@_);
+    my $pm   = File::Spec->catfile(qw(blib lib App Sqitch Config.pm));
+    my $etc  = $self->_path_to('etc');
+
+    $self->do_system(
+        $self->perl,
+        '-i', '-pe',
+        qq{s{my \\\$SYSTEM_DIR = undef}{my \\\$SYSTEM_DIR = q{$etc}}},
+        $pm,
+    );
+
+    return $ret;
+}
+
 1;
diff --git a/t/add_step.t b/t/add_step.t
index f7b8a3970..1d3a74e2a 100644
--- a/t/add_step.t
+++ b/t/add_step.t
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ is $add_step->template_directory, undef, 'Default dir should be undef';
 
 MOCKCONFIG: {
     my $config_mock = Test::MockModule->new('App::Sqitch::Config');
-    $config_mock->mock(system_dir => 'nonexistent');
+    $config_mock->mock(system_dir => Path::Class::dir('nonexistent'));
     for my $script (qw(deploy revert test)) {
         my $with = "with_$script";
         ok $add_step->$with, "$with should be true by default";