diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1609.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1609.xml
index 56d08bf1c2d..18b9a333e23 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1609.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1609.xml
@@ -165,6 +165,13 @@ following incompatible changes:</para>
     </para>
   </listitem>
 
+  <listitem>
+    <para>PHP now scans for extra configuration .ini files in /etc/php.d
+    instead of /etc. This prevents accidentally loading non-PHP .ini files
+    that may be in /etc.
+    </para>
+  </listitem>
+
 </itemizedlist>
 
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/default.nix
index f79ef61d36a..ae8256dfaea 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/default.nix
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ let
         done
 
         [[ -z "$libxml2" ]] || export PATH=$PATH:$libxml2/bin
-        ./configure --with-config-file-scan-dir=/etc --with-config-file-path=$out/etc --prefix=$out $configureFlags
+        ./configure --with-config-file-scan-dir=/etc/php.d --with-config-file-path=$out/etc --prefix=$out $configureFlags
       '';
 
       postInstall = ''