diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2ea7799..6400010 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
 AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_RANLIB
 
+AC_CHECK_HEADER(openssl/ssl.h, [], [AC_MSG_ERROR([couldn't find openssl headers, openssl required])])
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES([check], [check >= 0.9.4])
 
 AC_ARG_WITH([libxml2],