diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index b859d51..37b80a4 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -25,8 +25,7 @@ PKG_CHECK_MODULES([check], [check >= 0.9.4], [], [AC_MSG_WARN([libcheck not foun
 
 AC_ARG_WITH([libxml2],
             [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-libxml2], [use libxml2 for XML parsing])],
-            [with_libxml2=check],
-            [with_libxml2=no])
+            [], [with_libxml2=no])
 
 if test "x$with_libxml2" != xno; then
   PKG_CHECK_MODULES([libxml2], [libxml-2.0 >= 2.7],