diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 1d4afd58ed4..d926a32c0f3 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ external_libs = @WRAPPER_LIBS@
 mpi_convenience_libs =
 pmpi_convenience_libs = @mpllib@ @hwloclib@ @jsonlib@ @yaksalib@ @pmilib@
 
+if BUILD_ROMIO
+    external_subdirs += src/mpi/romio
+    pmpi_convenience_libs += src/mpi/romio/libromio.la
+endif
+
 # NOTE on our semi-unconventional usage of DIST_SUBDIRS:
 # The automake manual recommends thinking of DIST_SUBDIRS as the list of all
 # *configured* subdirectories.  The normal autotools model involves
@@ -136,12 +141,6 @@ lib_lib@MPILIBNAME@_la_LDFLAGS = $(ABIVERSIONFLAGS)
 lib_lib@MPILIBNAME@_la_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) -DMPICH_MPI_FROM_PMPI
 lib_lib@MPILIBNAME@_la_LIBADD = lib/lib@PMPILIBNAME@.la $(mpi_convenience_libs)
 
-if BUILD_ROMIO
-    # libpromio contains the PMPI symbols (unlike libpmpi, which contains MPI
-    # symbols) and should be added to libpmpi
-    lib_lib@PMPILIBNAME@_la_LIBADD += src/mpi/romio/libpromio.la
-    lib_lib@MPILIBNAME@_la_LIBADD += src/mpi/romio/libromio.la
-endif
 else !BUILD_PROFILING_LIB
 
 lib_LTLIBRARIES += lib/lib@MPILIBNAME@.la
@@ -151,9 +150,6 @@ lib_lib@MPILIBNAME@_la_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS)
 lib_lib@MPILIBNAME@_la_LIBADD = $(external_libs) $(pmpi_convenience_libs) $(mpi_convenience_libs)
 EXTRA_lib_lib@MPILIBNAME@_la_DEPENDENCIES = $(pmpi_convenience_libs) $(mpi_convenience_libs)
 
-if BUILD_ROMIO
-    lib_lib@MPILIBNAME@_la_LIBADD += src/mpi/romio/libromio.la
-endif
 endif !BUILD_PROFILING_LIB
 
 if BUILD_ABI_LIB
@@ -177,10 +173,6 @@ lib_lib@MPIABILIBNAME@_la_LDFLAGS = $(ABIVERSIONFLAGS)
 lib_lib@MPIABILIBNAME@_la_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) -DMPICH_MPI_FROM_PMPI $(abi_cppflags)
 lib_lib@MPIABILIBNAME@_la_LIBADD = lib/lib@PMPIABILIBNAME@.la $(mpi_convenience_libs)
 
-if BUILD_ROMIO
-    lib_lib@PMPIABILIBNAME@_la_LIBADD += src/mpi/romio/libpromio_abi.la
-    lib_lib@MPIABILIBNAME@_la_LIBADD += src/mpi/romio/libromio_abi.la
-endif
 else !BUILD_PROFILING_LIB
 
 lib_LTLIBRARIES += lib/lib@MPIABILIBNAME@.la
@@ -190,9 +182,6 @@ lib_lib@MPIABILIBNAME@_la_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) $(abi_cppflags)
 lib_lib@MPIABILIBNAME@_la_LIBADD = $(external_libs) $(pmpi_convenience_libs) $(mpi_convenience_libs)
 EXTRA_lib_lib@MPIABILIBNAME@_la_DEPENDENCIES = $(pmpi_convenience_libs) $(mpi_convenience_libs)
 
-if BUILD_ROMIO
-    lib_lib@MPIABILIBNAME@_la_LIBADD += src/mpi/romio/libromio_abi.la
-endif
 endif !BUILD_PROFILING_LIB
 endif BUILD_ABI_LIB
 
diff --git a/maint/gen_binding_c.py b/maint/gen_binding_c.py
index 1a571231ed1..60a18b62187 100644
--- a/maint/gen_binding_c.py
+++ b/maint/gen_binding_c.py
@@ -175,7 +175,6 @@ def dump_io_funcs(do_abi=False):
 
         if not do_abi:
             dump_out(c_dir + "/io.c")
-            G.mpi_sources.pop()
         else:
             abi_file_path = abi_dir + "/io_abi.c"
             G.check_write_path(abi_file_path)
diff --git a/src/mpi/Makefile.mk b/src/mpi/Makefile.mk
index 8d7c4236ee6..b0fa296ff04 100644
--- a/src/mpi/Makefile.mk
+++ b/src/mpi/Makefile.mk
@@ -22,30 +22,5 @@ include $(top_srcdir)/src/mpi/topo/Makefile.mk
 include $(top_srcdir)/src/mpi/stream/Makefile.mk
 include $(top_srcdir)/src/mpi/threadcomm/Makefile.mk
 
-if BUILD_ROMIO
-SUBDIRS += src/mpi/romio
-DIST_SUBDIRS += src/mpi/romio
-MANDOC_SUBDIRS += src/mpi/romio
-HTMLDOC_SUBDIRS += src/mpi/romio
-
-# This was previously a hard copy (not a symlink) performed by config.status
-# (specified via AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS).  Ideally we would eliminate this "copy"
-# altogether and just set -Iromio_include_dir, but MPE2's build system uses
-# $(top_builddir)/bin/mpicc that can't handle more than one include dir.
-#
-# Using a symlink allows us to avoid trying to capture the full dependency chain
-# of MPICH/mpio.h --> ROMIO/mpio.h --> ROMIO/mpio.h.in --> ROMIO/config.status --> ...MORE_AUTOTOOLS...
-BUILT_SOURCES += $(top_builddir)/src/include/mpio.h
-$(top_builddir)/src/include/mpio.h: $(top_builddir)/src/mpi/romio/include/mpio.h
-	if test ! -h $(top_builddir)/src/include/mpio.h ; then \
-	    rm -f $(top_builddir)/src/include/mpio.h ; \
-	    ( cd $(top_builddir)/src/include &&       \
-	        $(LN_S) ../mpi/romio/include/mpio.h ) ; \
-	fi
-
-DISTCLEANFILES += $(top_builddir)/src/include/mpio.h
-
-endif BUILD_ROMIO
-
 # dir is present but currently intentionally unbuilt
 #include $(top_srcdir)/src/mpi/io/Makefile.mk
diff --git a/src/mpi/romio/configure.ac b/src/mpi/romio/configure.ac
index da28bbd5761..8f51989e095 100644
--- a/src/mpi/romio/configure.ac
+++ b/src/mpi/romio/configure.ac
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ dnl AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR(../../../confdb)
 dnl Set the directory that contains the required install-sh, config.sub,
 dnl and config.guess .  Make sure that these are updated (in MPICH, use
 dnl the top-level confdb files).  This separate directory is used for
-dnl the moment to allow ROMIO to be separatedly distributed.
+dnl the moment to allow ROMIO to be separately distributed.
 dnl scripts.
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([confdb])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([confdb])
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ AC_ARG_VAR([FROM_OMPI],[set to "yes" if building ROMIO inside of Open MPI])
 FROM_OMPI=${FROM_OMPI:-no}
 if test "$FROM_OMPI" = 1 ; then FROM_OMPI=yes ; fi
 
+AM_CONDITIONAL([BUILD_BINDING], [test "$FROM_MPICH" != "yes"])
+
 # MPL
 AC_ARG_VAR([MPLLIBNAME],[can be used to override the name of the MPL library (default: "mpl")])
 MPLLIBNAME=${MPLLIBNAME:-"mpl"}
@@ -693,7 +695,9 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL([BUILD_MPIO_ERRHAN],[false])
 
 # if we don't have weak symbol support, we must build a separate convenience
 # library in order to provide the "PMPI_" symbols
-AM_CONDITIONAL([BUILD_PROFILING_LIB],[test "x$HAVE_WEAK_SYMBOLS" = "x0"])
+# MPICH will generate separate binding layer, thus we can skip PROFILING LIB
+# if build inside MPICH
+AM_CONDITIONAL([BUILD_PROFILING_LIB],[test "x$HAVE_WEAK_SYMBOLS" = "x0" -a "$FROM_MPICH" != "yes"])
 # disable visibility if building profiling library
 if test "x$HAVE_WEAK_SYMBOLS" = "x0" ; then
     VISIBILITY_CFLAGS=""
diff --git a/src/mpi/romio/mpi-io/Makefile.mk b/src/mpi/romio/mpi-io/Makefile.mk
index 3bde1b94256..621fa85016f 100644
--- a/src/mpi/romio/mpi-io/Makefile.mk
+++ b/src/mpi/romio/mpi-io/Makefile.mk
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ include $(top_srcdir)/mpi-io/fortran/Makefile.mk
 AM_CPPFLAGS += -I$(top_builddir)/mpi-io -I$(top_srcdir)/mpi-io
 noinst_HEADERS += mpi-io/mpioimpl.h mpi-io/mpioprof.h
 
+if BUILD_BINDING
 romio_mpi_sources +=          \
     mpi-io/close.c            \
     mpi-io/delete.c           \
@@ -68,6 +69,7 @@ romio_mpi_sources +=          \
     mpi-io/write_ordb.c       \
     mpi-io/write_orde.c       \
     mpi-io/write_sh.c
+endif BUILD_BINDING
 
 
 # non-MPI/PMPI sources that will be included in libromio