diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index bd498c51..3df29563 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -38,8 +38,9 @@ AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([config.h.in])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 AC_PROG_SED
-PKG_PROG_PKG_CONFIG
-PKG_INSTALLDIR()
+m4_ifndef([PKG_INSTALLDIR], [m4_fatal([pkgconf or pkg-config not found or too old (`pkg-config --version` must be >= 0.27)])])
+PKG_PROG_PKG_CONFIG(0.27)
+PKG_INSTALLDIR
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Global