diff --git a/darshan-util/pydarshan/pyproject.toml b/darshan-util/pydarshan/pyproject.toml
index 9296a93b7..4b9d49383 100644
--- a/darshan-util/pydarshan/pyproject.toml
+++ b/darshan-util/pydarshan/pyproject.toml
@@ -87,17 +87,17 @@ test-command = "pytest {package}"
 
 [tool.cibuildwheel.linux]
 before-all = [
-    "echo LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH",
     "yum install -y blas-devel lapack-devel",
     "yum install -y libxslt-devel libxml2-devel",
     "yum install -y libjpeg libjpeg-devel",
     "git submodule update --init",
     "./prepare.sh",
-    "./configure --disable-darshan-runtime --enable-apxc-mod --enable-apmpi-mod",
+    "./configure --prefix=$PWD/darshan_install --disable-darshan-runtime --enable-apxc-mod --enable-apmpi-mod",
     "make install"
 ]
 before-build = [
-    "echo LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
+    "echo LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH",
+    "echo PYDARSHAN_BUILD_EXT=$PYDARSHAN_BUILD_EXT"
 ]
 repair-wheel-command = [
     "auditwheel repair -w {dest_dir} {wheel}"