diff --git a/libguac/configure.in b/libguac/configure.in
index 622be0ef..5ed6f722 100644
--- a/libguac/configure.in
+++ b/libguac/configure.in
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
 
 # Checks for libraries.
 AC_CHECK_LIB([dl], [dlopen],, AC_MSG_ERROR("libdl is required for loading client plugins"))
-AC_CHECK_LIB([png], [png_write_png])
+AC_CHECK_LIB([png], [png_write_png],, AC_MSG_ERROR("libpng is required for writing png messages"))
 
 # Checks for header files.
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([fcntl.h stdlib.h string.h sys/socket.h sys/time.h syslog.h unistd.h])