diff --git a/rsync.h b/rsync.h
index 914eb2ee..c753098c 100644
--- a/rsync.h
+++ b/rsync.h
@@ -591,13 +591,6 @@ extern int errno;
 #define SUPPORT_LINKS HAVE_READLINK
 #define SUPPORT_HARD_LINKS HAVE_LINK
 
-/* This could be bad on systems which have no lchown and where chown
- * follows symbollic links.  On such systems it might be better not to
- * try to chown symlinks at all. */
-#ifndef HAVE_LCHOWN
-#define lchown chown
-#endif
-
 #define SIGNAL_CAST (RETSIGTYPE (*)())
 
 #ifndef EWOULDBLOCK
diff --git a/syscall.c b/syscall.c
index f34774ce..f4985471 100644
--- a/syscall.c
+++ b/syscall.c
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ int do_lchown(const char *path, uid_t owner, gid_t group)
 {
 	if (dry_run) return 0;
 	RETURN_ERROR_IF_RO_OR_LO;
+#ifdef HAVE_LCHOWN
+#define lchown chown
+#endif
 	return lchown(path, owner, group);
 }