diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9b61312..1893945 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -219,7 +219,12 @@ if test x"$debug_enabled" != x"yes" ; then
     CFLAGS="-DNDEBUG $CFLAGS"
 fi
 
+AS_ECHO_N(["checking to see if linker understands -z,defs... "])
+LDFLAGS_OLD="-Wl $LDFLAGS"
 LDFLAGS="-Wl,-z,defs $LDFLAGS"
+AC_LINK_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM()],
+    AS_ECHO("yes"),
+    AS_ECHO("no"); LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS_OLD")
 
 dnl
 dnl Make sure we can actually handle the "--with-*" and "--enable-*" stuff.