diff --git a/ghc-rpm-macros.spec b/ghc-rpm-macros.spec
index 30702e7..dd959d3 100644
--- a/ghc-rpm-macros.spec
+++ b/ghc-rpm-macros.spec
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 #%%global without_hscolour 1
 
 Name:           ghc-rpm-macros
-Version:        1.7.0
+Version:        1.6.50
 Release:        1%{?dist}
 Summary:        RPM macros for building Haskell packages for GHC
 
@@ -162,8 +162,10 @@ EOF
 
 
 %changelog
-* Wed Sep 13 2017 Jens Petersen <petersen@redhat.com> - 1.7.0-1
+* Wed Sep 13 2017 Jens Petersen <petersen@redhat.com> - 1.6.50-1
 - make some macro call args explicit for rpm-4.14 scope change
+  (this breaks builds with earlier versions of rpm)
+- fix the package.conf existence check
 
 * Wed Aug  2 2017 Jens Petersen <petersen@redhat.com>
 - ghc_gen_filelists: check package.conf exists
diff --git a/macros.ghc b/macros.ghc
index b8ad29d..4291243 100644
--- a/macros.ghc
+++ b/macros.ghc
@@ -73,8 +73,8 @@ LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS:-%{?__global_ldflags}}"; export LDFLAGS\
 %define pkgnamever %{pkgname}-%{pkgver}\
 %define basepkg %{?ghc_name}%{!?ghc_name:ghc}-%{pkgname}\
 %define docdir %{ghclibdocdir}/%{pkgnamever}\
-if [ ! -f "%{ghclibdir}/package.conf.d/%{pkgnamever}*.conf" ]; then\
-echo "%{ghclibdir}/package.conf.d/%{pkgnamever}*.conf not found"\
+if [ ! -f %{buildroot}%{ghclibdir}/package.conf.d/%{pkgnamever}*.conf ]; then\
+echo "%{buildroot}%{ghclibdir}/package.conf.d/%{pkgnamever}*.conf not found"\
 exit 1\
 fi\
 pkgconf=$(echo "%{ghclibdir}/package.conf.d/%{pkgnamever}*.conf")\