diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ef034fe1..da831ea0 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -272,6 +272,16 @@ AC_MSG_RESULT($DEFAULT_BLOCKING)
 AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external], [need-ngettext])
 AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION(0.12.1)
 
+# Iconv
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS(iconv.h,
+                 [AC_CHECK_TYPE(iconv_t,:,
+                                AC_DEFINE(iconv_t, int,
+                                          [Conversion descriptor type]),
+                                [#include <iconv.h>])])
+
+AC_CHECK_LIB(iconv, iconv)
+
+
 AC_OUTPUT([Makefile\
            doc/Makefile\
            lib/Makefile\