diff --git a/refpolicy/Makefile b/refpolicy/Makefile
index 9e68fd2e7..30a66dba5 100644
--- a/refpolicy/Makefile
+++ b/refpolicy/Makefile
@@ -271,7 +271,9 @@ xml: policy.xml
 policy.xml: $(ALL_INTERFACES) tmp/generated_definitions.conf
 	@echo "Creating $@"
 	$(QUIET) echo "<policy>" > $@
-	$(QUIET) egrep -h "^##[[:space:]]" $^ | sed -e 's/^##[[:space:]]//g' >> $@
+# process this through m4 to eliminate the generated definitions.
+# currently these are only in corenetwork.if
+	$(QUIET) m4 $^ | egrep -h "^##[[:space:]]" | sed -e 's/^##[[:space:]]//g' >> $@
 	$(QUIET) echo "</policy>" >> $@
 
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