diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 46ac4addb..fae5bf65c 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -705,7 +705,7 @@ AC_CHECK_FUNCS(regcomp)
 
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(ftok)
 
-AC_CHECK_FUNCS(mkstemp)
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([mkstemp], [], [AC_MSG_ERROR([mkstemp() is required by rpm])])
 
 dnl XXX Glob *is* broken on linux with libc5, solaris and possibly aix when
 dnl %files gets something like