--- orig/configure.in
+++ mod/configure.in
@@ -941,6 +941,13 @@
 		[AC_MSG_RESULT([missing])
     		 AC_DEFINE(GETTOD_NOT_DECLARED)])
 
+# check for gettext.  It is part of glibc, but others
+# need GNU gettext separately.
+AC_CHECK_HEADER(libintl.h, true,
+			   AC_MSG_ERROR(libintl.h (gettext) not found))
+AC_CHECK_FUNC(dgettext, true,
+			AC_CHECK_LIB(intl,dgettext,LIBS="${LIBS} -lintl",
+				     AC_MSG_ERROR(gettext library not found)))
 
 AC_CHECK_LIB(m,sin,LIBS="${LIBS} -lm",true)
 AC_CHECK_LIB(mingwex,main,LIBS="${LIBS} -lmingwex",true)