diff --git a/darshan-runtime/share/mpi-profile/darshan-bg-cxx.conf.in b/darshan-runtime/share/mpi-profile/darshan-bg-cxx.conf.in
index ac56b4839bc56fc9b22d7af7390737fd05172de6..2e3b9a4076e57849674a3f5311e45209fb28386f 100644
--- a/darshan-runtime/share/mpi-profile/darshan-bg-cxx.conf.in
+++ b/darshan-runtime/share/mpi-profile/darshan-bg-cxx.conf.in
@@ -13,16 +13,16 @@ dyncheck2=$?
 echo "${allargs[@]}" | grep "\\-dynamic" >& /dev/null
 dyncheck3=$?
 
-# try to detect name of libmpichcxx library needed for pmpi
-#   - these may be named with different suffixes to match the compiler version
-D_MPI_PRELIB=`echo $LIBS |grep "\-lmpichcxx\-\\S\+" -o`
-
 # Skip profiling if we know that dynamic linking is in use.  See LD_PRELOAD 
 # method instead.
 if [ "$dyncheck1" -ne 0 -a "$dyncheck2" -ne 0 -a "$dyncheck3" -ne 0 ]; then
 
+	# NOTE: there is something fragile here.  We are relying on the BG mpicxx script to set a 
+        #       variable called $cxxlibs to the name of the libmpichcxx variant that we need in order
+        #       to intercept pmpi calls
+
 	# Libraries (and paths) to include before the MPI library 
-	export PROFILE_PRELIB="$D_MPI_PRELIB `$DARSHAN_PREFIX/bin/darshan-config --pre-ld-flags`"
+	export PROFILE_PRELIB="$cxxlibs `$DARSHAN_PREFIX/bin/darshan-config --pre-ld-flags`"
 
 	# Libraries to include after the MPI library 
 	export PROFILE_POSTLIB=`$DARSHAN_PREFIX/bin/darshan-config --post-ld-flags`