diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5d48dfac18a..118c28e80d9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -164,14 +164,6 @@ ifneq ($(filter $(ninja-targets), $(ninja-cmd-goals)),)
 endif
 endif
 
-ifeq ($(CONFIG_PLUGIN),y)
-.PHONY: plugins
-plugins:
-	$(call quiet-command,\
-		$(MAKE) $(SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS) -C contrib/plugins V="$(V)", \
-		"BUILD", "example plugins")
-endif # $(CONFIG_PLUGIN)
-
 else # config-host.mak does not exist
 ifneq ($(filter-out $(UNCHECKED_GOALS),$(MAKECMDGOALS)),$(if $(MAKECMDGOALS),,fail))
 $(error Please call configure before running make)
@@ -184,15 +176,20 @@ include $(SRC_PATH)/tests/Makefile.include
 
 all: recurse-all
 
-ROMS_RULES=$(foreach t, all clean distclean, $(addsuffix /$(t), $(ROMS)))
-.PHONY: $(ROMS_RULES)
-$(ROMS_RULES):
+SUBDIR_RULES=$(foreach t, all clean distclean, $(addsuffix /$(t), $(SUBDIRS)))
+.PHONY: $(SUBDIR_RULES)
+$(SUBDIR_RULES):
 	$(call quiet-command,$(MAKE) $(SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS) -C $(dir $@) V="$(V)" TARGET_DIR="$(dir $@)" $(notdir $@),)
 
+ifneq ($(filter contrib/plugins, $(SUBDIRS)),)
+.PHONY: plugins
+plugins: contrib/plugins/all
+endif
+
 .PHONY: recurse-all recurse-clean
-recurse-all: $(addsuffix /all, $(ROMS))
-recurse-clean: $(addsuffix /clean, $(ROMS))
-recurse-distclean: $(addsuffix /distclean, $(ROMS))
+recurse-all: $(addsuffix /all, $(SUBDIRS))
+recurse-clean: $(addsuffix /clean, $(SUBDIRS))
+recurse-distclean: $(addsuffix /distclean, $(SUBDIRS))
 
 ######################################################################
 
@@ -296,7 +293,7 @@ help:
 	$(call print-help,cscope,Generate cscope index)
 	$(call print-help,sparse,Run sparse on the QEMU source)
 	@echo  ''
-ifeq ($(CONFIG_PLUGIN),y)
+ifneq ($(filter contrib/plugins, $(SUBDIRS)),)
 	@echo  'Plugin targets:'
 	$(call print-help,plugins,Build the example TCG plugins)
 	@echo  ''
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 1be8b430a54..9980eaeef57 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -256,6 +256,7 @@ softmmu="yes"
 linux_user=""
 bsd_user=""
 plugins="$default_feature"
+subdirs=""
 ninja=""
 python=
 download="enabled"
@@ -1067,6 +1068,9 @@ if test "$static" = "yes" ; then
   fi
 fi
 test "$plugins" = "" && plugins=yes
+if test "$plugins" = "yes"; then
+  subdirs="$subdirs contrib/plugins"
+fi
 
 cat > $TMPC << EOF
 
@@ -1627,12 +1631,11 @@ done
 echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > Makefile.prereqs
 
 # Mac OS X ships with a broken assembler
-roms=
 if have_target i386-softmmu x86_64-softmmu && \
         test "$targetos" != "darwin" && test "$targetos" != "sunos" && \
         test "$targetos" != "haiku" && \
         probe_target_compiler i386-softmmu; then
-    roms="pc-bios/optionrom"
+    subdirs="$subdirs pc-bios/optionrom"
     config_mak=pc-bios/optionrom/config.mak
     echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $config_mak
     echo "TOPSRC_DIR=$source_path" >> $config_mak
@@ -1641,7 +1644,7 @@ fi
 
 if have_target ppc-softmmu ppc64-softmmu && \
         probe_target_compiler ppc-softmmu; then
-    roms="$roms pc-bios/vof"
+    subdirs="$subdirs pc-bios/vof"
     config_mak=pc-bios/vof/config.mak
     echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $config_mak
     echo "SRC_DIR=$source_path/pc-bios/vof" >> $config_mak
@@ -1660,7 +1663,7 @@ if have_target s390x-softmmu && probe_target_compiler s390x-softmmu && \
       echo "WARNING: Your compiler does not support the z900!"
       echo "         The s390-ccw bios will only work with guest CPUs >= z10."
     fi
-    roms="$roms pc-bios/s390-ccw"
+    subdirs="$subdirs pc-bios/s390-ccw"
     config_mak=pc-bios/s390-ccw/config-host.mak
     echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $config_mak
     echo "SRC_PATH=$source_path/pc-bios/s390-ccw" >> $config_mak
@@ -1727,7 +1730,7 @@ if test "$container" != no; then
     echo "ENGINE=$container" >> $config_host_mak
     echo "RUNC=$runc" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
-echo "ROMS=$roms" >> $config_host_mak
+echo "SUBDIRS=$subdirs" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "PYTHON=$python" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "GENISOIMAGE=$genisoimage" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "MESON=$meson" >> $config_host_mak
