diff --git a/configure b/configure
index f45321757e..2dce10935c 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -5503,6 +5503,9 @@ fi
 if test "$_theora" = yes ; then
   _def_theora='#define HAVE_OGGTHEORA 1'
   _codecmodules="libtheora $_codecmodules"
+  # when --enable-theora is forced, we'd better provide a probably sane
+  # $_ld_theora than nothing
+  test -z "$_ld_theora" && _ld_theora="-ltheora -logg"
 else
   _def_theora='#undef HAVE_OGGTHEORA'
   _nocodecmodules="libtheora $_nocodecmodules"