diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 7ae02b745ba..1cfb5d5bce5 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -88,6 +88,15 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_CCGNU, test "WITH_CCGNU" = "1")
 AC_HEADER_DIRENT
 AC_HEADER_STDC
 AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT
+
+# spirit?
+AC_LANG([C++])
+AC_DEFINE([HAVE_BOOST_SPIRIT_CORE_HPP], [], [Description])
+AC_CHECK_HEADER([boost/spirit.hpp],
+                [AC_DEFINE([HAVE_BOOST_SPIRIT_CORE_HPP])],
+                [AC_MSG_ERROR([Sorry, you need to install the Boost spirit parser library (libboost-dev on debian)])])
+
+AC_LANG([C])
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([arpa/inet.h fcntl.h netdb.h netinet/in.h stdint.h stdlib.h string.h sys/file.h sys/ioctl.h sys/mount.h sys/param.h sys/socket.h sys/statvfs.h sys/time.h sys/vfs.h syslog.h unistd.h utime.h])
 
 # Checks for typedefs, structures, and compiler characteristics.