diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 25f69f5..7157484 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -154,6 +154,8 @@ ishaiku() {
 	$haiku_detected	
 }
 
+check_compile 'whether C compiler works' '' 'int main() {return 0;}' || fail 'error: install a C compiler and library'
+
 check_compile 'whether we have GNU-style getservbyname_r()' "-DHAVE_GNU_GETSERVBYNAME_R" \
 '#define _GNU_SOURCE\n#include <netdb.h>\nint main() {\nstruct servent *se = 0;struct servent se_buf;char buf[1024];\ngetservbyname_r("foo", (void*) 0, &se_buf, buf, sizeof(buf), &se);\nreturn 0;}'