diff --git a/libpkgconf/tuple.c b/libpkgconf/tuple.c
index 2bcadc2..d4d3704 100644
--- a/libpkgconf/tuple.c
+++ b/libpkgconf/tuple.c
@@ -121,6 +121,9 @@ pkgconf_tuple_parse(const pkgconf_client_t *client, pkgconf_list_t *vars, const
 	const char *ptr;
 	char *bptr = buf;
 
+	if (*value == '/' && client->sysroot_dir != NULL && strncmp(value, client->sysroot_dir, strlen(client->sysroot_dir)))
+		bptr += strlcpy(buf, client->sysroot_dir, sizeof buf);
+
 	for (ptr = value; *ptr != '\0' && bptr - buf < PKGCONF_BUFSIZE; ptr++)
 	{
 		if (*ptr != '$' || (*ptr == '$' && *(ptr + 1) != '{'))
diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 2b0faa1..4593b22 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ static uint64_t want_flags;
 static int maximum_traverse_depth = 2000;
 
 static char *want_variable = NULL;
-static char *sysroot_dir = NULL;
 
 FILE *error_msgout = NULL;
 FILE *logfile_out = NULL;
@@ -364,22 +363,11 @@ print_variable(pkgconf_client_t *client, pkgconf_pkg_t *pkg, void *data, unsigne
 	{
 		if (*(req->buf) == '\0')
 		{
-			memset(req->buf, 0, sizeof(req->buf));
-
-			if (*var == '/' && (flags & PKGCONF_PKG_PKGF_MUNGE_SYSROOT_PREFIX) &&
-			    (sysroot_dir != NULL && strncmp(var, sysroot_dir, strlen(sysroot_dir))))
-				strlcat(req->buf, sysroot_dir, sizeof(req->buf));
-
-			strlcat(req->buf, var, sizeof(req->buf));
+			strlcpy(req->buf, var, sizeof(req->buf));
 			return;
 		}
 
 		strlcat(req->buf, " ", sizeof(req->buf));
-
-		if (*var == '/' && (flags & PKGCONF_PKG_PKGF_MUNGE_SYSROOT_PREFIX) &&
-		    (sysroot_dir != NULL && strncmp(var, sysroot_dir, strlen(sysroot_dir))))
-			strlcat(req->buf, sysroot_dir, sizeof(req->buf));
-
 		strlcat(req->buf, var, sizeof(req->buf));
 	}
 }
@@ -641,6 +629,7 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	int ret;
 	pkgconf_list_t pkgq = PKGCONF_LIST_INITIALIZER;
 	char *builddir;
+	char *sysroot_dir;
 	char *required_pkgconfig_version = NULL;
 	char *required_exact_module_version = NULL;
 	char *required_max_module_version = NULL;