diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
index 8881203f23..b9be1d29eb 100644
--- a/acinclude.m4
+++ b/acinclude.m4
@@ -1879,3 +1879,16 @@ AC_DEFUN([AC_WIRESHARK_QT_TOOL_CHECK],
 		fi
 	fi
 ])
+
+AC_DEFUN([AC_WIRESHARK_QT_TOOL_CHECK_LRELEASE],
+[
+  AC_WIRESHARK_QT_TOOL_CHECK(LRELEASE, lrelease, $2)
+  AC_MSG_CHECKING(whether lrelease -version works)
+  lrelease_version=`$LRELEASE -version 2>&AS_MESSAGE_LOG_FD`
+  AS_IF([test $? -ne 0],
+    [
+      AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
+      AC_MSG_ERROR([$LRELEASE -version returned non-zero exit status])
+    ])
+  AC_MSG_RESULT([ok, $lrelease_version])
+])
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c9b4d00152..caa29a32a6 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1302,7 +1302,7 @@ if test "x$enable_wireshark" = "xyes"; then
 			AC_SUBST(MOC)
 			AC_WIRESHARK_QT_TOOL_CHECK(RCC, rcc, "$qt_version")
 			AC_SUBST(RCC)
-			AC_WIRESHARK_QT_TOOL_CHECK(LRELEASE, lrelease, "$qt_version")
+			AC_WIRESHARK_QT_TOOL_CHECK_LRELEASE("$qt_version")
 			AC_SUBST(LRELEASE)
 
 			#