diff --git a/make/defs.mk b/make/defs.mk
index 277fc2de..111345c6 100644
--- a/make/defs.mk
+++ b/make/defs.mk
@@ -491,11 +491,11 @@ endif
 ifeq ($(CREATE_PKG_CONFIG),true)
   INSTALLATION_FILE_TYPES   += PKG_CONFIG
   PKG_CONFIG                += $(sort $(filter-out $(DONT_INSTALL),$(wildcard *.pc) $(LOCAL_PKG_CONFIG)))
-  ifeq ($(DEVELOPMENT),true)
-    BUILD_PKG_CONFIGDIR      = $(JWBDIR)/pkgconfig
-  else
-    BUILD_PKG_CONFIGDIR      = $(TOPDIR)/make
-  endif
+  # Having BUILD_PKG_CONFIGDIR point to $(TOPDIR)/make makes it a build-time
+  # no-op. Override BUILD_PKG_CONFIGDIR to $(JWBDIR)/pkgconfig if you want a
+  # self-contained (i.e. non-installed) build over multiple projects to share
+  # a common PKG_CONFIG directory.
+  BUILD_PKG_CONFIGDIR       ?= $(TOPDIR)/make
   LOCAL_PKG_CONFIG           = $(PROJECT).pc
   # As of now, this is not used by any downstream project, so disable it to reduce complexity.
   #BUILD_PKG_CONFIG           = $(BUILD_PKG_CONFIGDIR)/$(LOCAL_PKG_CONFIG)