diff --git a/config/HDFTests.c b/config/HDFTests.c
index 33135f1a04e..f7ab8d916ce 100644
--- a/config/HDFTests.c
+++ b/config/HDFTests.c
@@ -27,21 +27,6 @@ main ()
 
 #endif /* HAVE___FLOAT128 */
 
-#ifdef HAVE_BUILTIN_EXPECT
-
-int
-main ()
-{
-    void *ptr = (void*) 0;
-
-    if (__builtin_expect (ptr != (void*) 0, 1))
-        return 0;
-
-    return 0;
-}
-
-#endif /* HAVE_BUILTIN_EXPECT */
-
 #ifdef HAVE_ATTRIBUTE
 
 int
diff --git a/src/H5pubconf.h.in b/src/H5pubconf.h.in
index 9a87433e6b0..93b28b5327f 100644
--- a/src/H5pubconf.h.in
+++ b/src/H5pubconf.h.in
@@ -307,9 +307,6 @@
 /* Define to 1 if you have the <szlib.h> header file. */
 #cmakedefine H5_HAVE_SZLIB_H @H5_HAVE_SZLIB_H@
 
-/* Define to 1 if the compiler supports the __builtin_expect() extension */
-#cmakedefine H5_HAVE_BUILTIN_EXPECT @H5_HAVE_BUILTIN_EXPECT@
-
 /* Define if we have thread support */
 # cmakedefine H5_HAVE_THREADS @H5_HAVE_THREADS@
 
diff --git a/src/H5public.h b/src/H5public.h
index dfad2b2d511..09c46e15f8e 100644
--- a/src/H5public.h
+++ b/src/H5public.h
@@ -461,6 +461,22 @@ typedef void (*H5_atclose_func_t)(void *ctx);
  * Does the compiler support the __builtin_expect() syntax?
  * It's not a problem if not.
  */
+
+/* clang-format off */
+#if defined(__has_builtin)
+    /* clang extension to check for builtins. Do this first, because clang
+     * also defines __GNUC__ and didn't support __builtin_expect() until
+     * more recently.
+     */
+#   if __has_builtin(__builtin_expect)
+#       define H5_HAVE_BUILTIN_EXPECT 1
+#   endif
+#elif defined(__GNUC__)
+    /* __builtin_expect() has been supported since 2.95 or 2.96 (circa 2000) */
+#   define H5_HAVE_BUILTIN_EXPECT 1
+#endif
+/* clang-format on */
+
 #if H5_HAVE_BUILTIN_EXPECT
 #define H5_LIKELY(expression)   __builtin_expect(!!(expression), 1)
 #define H5_UNLIKELY(expression) __builtin_expect(!!(expression), 0)