diff --git a/cmake/ConfigureChecks.cmake b/cmake/ConfigureChecks.cmake
index be696da71..25dc9eb61 100644
--- a/cmake/ConfigureChecks.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ConfigureChecks.cmake
@@ -131,7 +131,6 @@ CMAKE_POP_CHECK_STATE()
 
 CHECK_TYPE_SIZE("wchar_t[8]" WCHAR_T_BITS LANGUAGE CXX)
 
-# Solaris, NetBSD and X/Open-conforming systems have a fixed-args tparm
 SET(TPARM_INCLUDES)
 IF(HAVE_NCURSES_H)
   SET(TPARM_INCLUDES "${TPARM_INCLUDES}#include <ncurses.h>\n")
@@ -147,9 +146,11 @@ ELSEIF(HAVE_NCURSES_TERM_H)
   SET(TPARM_INCLUDES "${TPARM_INCLUDES}#include <ncurses/term.h>\n")
 ENDIF()
 
+# Solaris and X/Open-conforming systems have a fixed-args tparm
 CMAKE_PUSH_CHECK_STATE()
 LIST(APPEND CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES ${CURSES_LIBRARY})
 CHECK_CXX_SOURCE_COMPILES("
+#define TPARM_VARARGS
 ${TPARM_INCLUDES}
 
 int main () {
@@ -158,22 +159,11 @@ int main () {
 "
   TPARM_TAKES_VARARGS
 )
-IF(NOT TPARM_TAKES_VARARGS)
-  CHECK_CXX_SOURCE_COMPILES("
-${TPARM_INCLUDES}
-#define TPARM_VARARGS
 
-int main () {
-  tparm( \"\" );
-}
-"
-    TPARM_TAKES_VARARGS_WITH_VARARGS
-    )
-  IF(NOT TPARM_TAKES_VARARGS)
-    SET(TPARM_SOLARIS_KLUDGE 1)
-  ELSE()
-    SET(TPARM_VARARGS 1)
-  ENDIF()
+IF(TPARM_TAKES_VARARGS)
+  SET(TPARM_VARARGS 1)
+ELSE()
+  SET(TPARM_SOLARIS_KLUDGE 1)
 ENDIF()
 CMAKE_POP_CHECK_STATE()
 
diff --git a/config_cmake.h.in b/config_cmake.h.in
index 471094269..0330940fa 100644
--- a/config_cmake.h.in
+++ b/config_cmake.h.in
@@ -145,6 +145,9 @@
 /* Define to the full name of this package. */
 #define PACKAGE_NAME "fish"
 
+/* Use a variadic tparm on NetBSD curses. */
+#cmakedefine TPARM_VARARGS 1
+
 /* Define to 1 if tparm accepts a fixed amount of parameters. */
 #cmakedefine TPARM_SOLARIS_KLUDGE 1