diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 4de68432cbc..0b07f0b97bf 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -14600,19 +14600,21 @@ fi
 $as_echo "$ac_cv_wchar_t_signed" >&6; }
 fi
 
+{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking whether wchar_t is usable" >&5
+$as_echo_n "checking whether wchar_t is usable... " >&6; }
 # wchar_t is only usable if it maps to an unsigned type
 if test "$ac_cv_sizeof_wchar_t" -ge 2 \
           -a "$ac_cv_wchar_t_signed" = "no"
 then
-  HAVE_USABLE_WCHAR_T="yes"
 
 $as_echo "#define HAVE_USABLE_WCHAR_T 1" >>confdefs.h
 
+  { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: yes" >&5
+$as_echo "yes" >&6; }
 else
-  HAVE_USABLE_WCHAR_T="no usable wchar_t found"
+  { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
+$as_echo "no" >&6; }
 fi
-{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $HAVE_USABLE_WCHAR_T" >&5
-$as_echo "$HAVE_USABLE_WCHAR_T" >&6; }
 
 # check for endianness
  { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking whether byte ordering is bigendian" >&5
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1e0b7f5e7ba..5b66624d781 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -4555,19 +4555,19 @@ then
   AC_MSG_RESULT($ac_cv_wchar_t_signed)
 fi
 
+AC_MSG_CHECKING(whether wchar_t is usable)
 # wchar_t is only usable if it maps to an unsigned type
 if test "$ac_cv_sizeof_wchar_t" -ge 2 \
           -a "$ac_cv_wchar_t_signed" = "no"
 then
-  HAVE_USABLE_WCHAR_T="yes"
   AC_DEFINE(HAVE_USABLE_WCHAR_T, 1,
   [Define if you have a useable wchar_t type defined in wchar.h; useable
    means wchar_t must be an unsigned type with at least 16 bits. (see
    Include/unicodeobject.h).])
+  AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
 else
-  HAVE_USABLE_WCHAR_T="no usable wchar_t found"
+  AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
 fi
-AC_MSG_RESULT($HAVE_USABLE_WCHAR_T)
 
 # check for endianness
 AC_C_BIGENDIAN