diff --git a/configure b/configure
index b8b10680b0040ce00a59e4db9e155303bccbf5bd..c06d93cd711908e1003fa7cbc74225655ff6c748 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -834,6 +834,7 @@ fi
 
 
 
+
 
 
 #
@@ -1124,7 +1125,7 @@ fi
 # SVR4 /usr/ucb/install, which tries to use the nonexistent group "staff"
 # ./install, which can be erroneously created by make from ./install.sh.
 echo $ac_n "checking for a BSD compatible install""... $ac_c" 1>&6
-echo "configure:1128: checking for a BSD compatible install" >&5
+echo "configure:1129: checking for a BSD compatible install" >&5
 if test -z "$INSTALL"; then
 if eval "test \"`echo '$''{'ac_cv_path_install'+set}'`\" = set"; then
   echo $ac_n "(cached) $ac_c" 1>&6
@@ -1425,6 +1426,7 @@ s%@FSDIR_USERS@%$FSDIR_USERS%g
 s%@TRACK_INTERSWITCH_BANDWIDTH@%$TRACK_INTERSWITCH_BANDWIDTH%g
 s%@TIMESTAMPS@%$TIMESTAMPS%g
 s%@UNIFIED_BOSS_AND_OPS@%$UNIFIED_BOSS_AND_OPS%g
+s%@DISABLE_NSE@%$DISABLE_NSE%g
 s%@LEDA@%$LEDA%g
 s%@ASSIGN@%$ASSIGN%g
 s%@SSH_ARGS@%$SSH_ARGS%g
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 7b47375979c9bfdd3249dce57ee3d759a704a8e0..971cc953bc04f70353661cab48b846101d2f06e5 100755
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ AC_SUBST(FSDIR_USERS)
 AC_SUBST(TRACK_INTERSWITCH_BANDWIDTH)
 AC_SUBST(TIMESTAMPS)
 AC_SUBST(UNIFIED_BOSS_AND_OPS)
+AC_SUBST(DISABLE_NSE)
 
 #
 # Defaults for for above variables.
diff --git a/defs-wide b/defs-wide
index 91ee854adc1c84d57f984b8ffb761ebb8f84e66a..0d316e6c3400186497d9baa501446de553025d43 100644
--- a/defs-wide
+++ b/defs-wide
@@ -23,3 +23,4 @@ FSDIR_GROUPS=/z/groups
 FSDIR_PROJ=/z/proj
 FSDIR_USERS=/z/users
 UNIFIED_BOSS_AND_OPS=1
+DISABLE_NSE=1
diff --git a/tbsetup/ns2ir/parse.tcl.in b/tbsetup/ns2ir/parse.tcl.in
index d0e84ac0fa43e9690bb6196efeacc495dda6b91b..dfa9dea853572c3ad710011b350c792ad0bd38bc 100644
--- a/tbsetup/ns2ir/parse.tcl.in
+++ b/tbsetup/ns2ir/parse.tcl.in
@@ -160,6 +160,7 @@ namespace eval GLOBALS {
     # Some settings taken from configure.
     variable tbroot @prefix@
     variable libdir @prefix@/lib/ns2ir
+    variable disablense {@DISABLE_NSE@}
 
     # This is the location of the tb_compat.tcl file.  It is copied
     # into the same directory is the ns file so that the initial
@@ -409,9 +410,11 @@ proc parse_delay {dspec} {
 # the NS file.
 
 # We first run the script through NSE to check syntax errors
-file copy -force ${GLOBALS::nstbcompat} tb_compat.tcl
-if { [catch {exec nse ${GLOBALS::nsfile}} errMsg] == 1 } {
-    perror "Syntax check with NS failed\nerrorcode: $errorCode\n error msg: $errMsg"
+if { ${GLOBALS::disablense} != 1 } {
+    file copy -force ${GLOBALS::nstbcompat} tb_compat.tcl
+    if { [catch {exec nse ${GLOBALS::nsfile}} errMsg] == 1 } {
+	perror "Syntax check with NS failed\nerrorcode: $errorCode\n error msg: $errMsg"
+    }
 }
 
 if { ${GLOBALS::errors} != 1 } {