diff --git a/test/Makefile.am b/test/Makefile.am
index 4e92375..5f0c008 100644
--- a/test/Makefile.am
+++ b/test/Makefile.am
@@ -130,28 +130,14 @@ endif # GCOV_ENABLED
 endif # ENABLE_RUNTIME_TESTS
 
 if ENABLE_STATIC_SYMBOL_LEAKS_TEST
-# Hack to check for leaking symbols in the static library.
-# See https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=82785
-# Note the spaces in the expressions! After the first grep, each line
-# is " T symbol_name"
-static-symbol-leaks: test-static-link
-	$(AM_V_GEN)(\
-		$(NM) --extern-only $(builddir)/test-static-link | \
-			grep -o -e " T .*" | \
-			grep -v -e " main$$" \
-				-e " atexit" \
-				-e " mangle_path" \
-				-e " *gcov.*" \
-				-e " _.*" \
-				-e " libevdev_*" && \
-				echo "Leaking symbols found" && \
-				exit 1 || exit 0 \
-	)
+static-symbol-leaks: test-static-link test-static-symbols-leak.sh
+	$(AM_V_GEN) $(srcdir)/test-static-symbols-leak.sh $(builddir)
 
 check_local_deps += static-symbol-leaks
+
 endif # HAVE_NM
 
-EXTRA_DIST = valgrind.suppressions  generate-gcov-report.sh
+EXTRA_DIST = valgrind.suppressions  generate-gcov-report.sh test-static-symbols-leak.sh
 
 check-local: $(check_local_deps)
 
diff --git a/test/test-static-symbols-leak.sh b/test/test-static-symbols-leak.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..74ff3b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test-static-symbols-leak.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Hack to check for leaking symbols in the static library.
+# See https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=82785
+# Note the spaces in the expressions! After the first grep, each line
+# is " T symbol_name"
+
+builddir="$1"
+
+test -f "$builddir/test-static-link" || (echo "Unable to find test file" && exit 1)
+nm --extern-only "$builddir/test-static-link" |
+	grep -o -e " T .*" | \
+	grep -v -e " main\$" \
+		-e " atexit" \
+		-e " mangle_path" \
+		-e " *gcov.*" \
+		-e " _.*" \
+		-e " libevdev_*" && \
+		echo "Leaking symbols found" && exit 1 || exit 0