diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 6a60ffc6..f1a13090 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -61,10 +61,22 @@ AC_CHECK_HEADERS([sys/sysctl.h sys/select.h])
 LT_PREREQ([2.2])
 LT_INIT([disable-static])
 
+dnl pthread-stubs is mandatory on BSD platforms, due to the nature of the
+dnl project. Even then there's a notable issue as described in the project README
+case "$host_os" in
+linux* | cygwin* | darwin* | solaris* | gnu*)
+    pthread_stubs_possible="no"
+    ;;
+* )
+    pthread_stubs_possible="yes"
+    ;;
+esac
 
-
-AC_SUBST(PTHREADSTUBS_CFLAGS)
-AC_SUBST(PTHREADSTUBS_LIBS)
+if test "x$pthread_stubs_possible" = xyes; then
+    PKG_CHECK_MODULES(PTHREADSTUBS, pthread-stubs >= 0.4)
+    AC_SUBST(PTHREADSTUBS_CFLAGS)
+    AC_SUBST(PTHREADSTUBS_LIBS)
+fi
 
 pkgconfigdir=${libdir}/pkgconfig
 AC_SUBST(pkgconfigdir)