diff --git a/Shorewall-core/configure b/Shorewall-core/configure
index a20d66a4f..9b205b844 100755
--- a/Shorewall-core/configure
+++ b/Shorewall-core/configure
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@ for on in \
     SYSTEMD \
     SYSCONFFILE \
     SYSCONFDIR \
+    SPARSE \
     ANNOTATED \
     VARDIR
 do
diff --git a/Shorewall-core/configure.pl b/Shorewall-core/configure.pl
index 86327a64e..563484ef6 100755
--- a/Shorewall-core/configure.pl
+++ b/Shorewall-core/configure.pl
@@ -140,6 +140,7 @@ for ( qw/ HOST
 	  SYSTEMD
 	  SYSCONFFILE
 	  SYSCONFDIR
+	  SPARSE
 	  ANNOTATED
 	  VARDIR / ) {