diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index defe262..64c0b7a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@
 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS([zlib])
 
 dnl Check for libjpeg library
-AC_SEARCH_LIBS([jpeg_destroy_compress], [jpeg])
+AC_SEARCH_LIBS([jpeg_destroy_compress], [jpeg], [], [AC_MSG_ERROR(["libjpeg is required to build TigerVNC"])])
 
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS([vsnprintf snprintf strcasecmp strncasecmp])