diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e4744b3..1a36357 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -20,6 +20,13 @@ AC_PROG_CPP
 AC_PROG_CXX
 LT_INIT
 
+dnl check for pkg-config (explained in detail in libosmocore/configure.ac)
+AC_PATH_PROG(PKG_CONFIG_INSTALLED, pkg-config, no)
+if test "x$PKG_CONFIG_INSTALLED" = "xno"; then
+        AC_MSG_WARN([You need to install pkg-config])
+fi
+PKG_PROG_PKG_CONFIG([0.20])
+
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR([lib])