diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 6ae93ee4..79818c98 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -139,9 +139,6 @@ if (NOT MSVC)
         f(void) {}
         int main(void) { return 0; }
     " HAVE_ATTRIBUTE_DESTRUCTOR)
-    if(HAVE_ATTRIBUTE_DESTRUCTOR)
-        set(ATTRIBUTE_DESTRUCTOR "__attribute__((destructor))")
-    endif()
     check_include_files(arpa/inet.h HAVE_ARPA_INET_H)
     check_function_exists(class HAVE_CLASS)
     check_include_files(dlfcn.h HAVE_DLFCN_H)
diff --git a/config.h.cmake.in b/config.h.cmake.in
index f31fc3b0..e732540d 100644
--- a/config.h.cmake.in
+++ b/config.h.cmake.in
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-/* A form that will not confuse apibuild.py */
-#cmakedefine ATTRIBUTE_DESTRUCTOR @ATTRIBUTE_DESTRUCTOR@
-
 /* Define to 1 if you have the <arpa/inet.h> header file. */
 #cmakedefine HAVE_ARPA_INET_H 1
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 65ed3c5e..badddcc2 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -355,7 +355,6 @@ void __attribute__((destructor))
 f(void) {}], [], [
   AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
   AC_DEFINE([HAVE_ATTRIBUTE_DESTRUCTOR], [1],[Define if __attribute__((destructor)) is accepted])
-  AC_DEFINE([ATTRIBUTE_DESTRUCTOR], [__attribute__((destructor))],[A form that will not confuse apibuild.py])],[
   AC_MSG_RESULT(no)])
 
 dnl
diff --git a/libxml.h b/libxml.h
index e1aa3ee4..64e140ad 100644
--- a/libxml.h
+++ b/libxml.h
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@
   #define ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED
 #endif
 
+#ifdef HAVE_ATTRIBUTE_DESTRUCTOR
+  #define ATTRIBUTE_DESTRUCTOR __attribute__((destructor))
+#endif
+
 #if defined(__clang__) || \
     (defined(__GNUC__) && (__GNUC__ >= 8) && !defined(__EDG__))
   #define ATTRIBUTE_NO_SANITIZE(arg) __attribute__((no_sanitize(arg)))
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 3cab6916..8a81de5b 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -298,7 +298,6 @@ endif
 ### __attribute__((destructor))
 if cc.has_function_attribute('destructor')
     config_h.set10('HAVE_ATTRIBUTE_DESTRUCTOR', true)
-    config_h.set('ATTRIBUTE_DESTRUCTOR', '__attribute__((destructor))')
 endif
 
 ### DSO support