diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9a744b1..126e9a5 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -97,11 +97,25 @@
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(talloc,
 	[AS_HELP_STRING(
 		[--disable-talloc],
-		[Disable building talloc memory allocator]
+		[Disable building libosmocore internal talloc memory allocator]
 	)],
 	[enable_talloc=$enableval], [enable_talloc="yes"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_TALLOC, [test x"$enable_talloc" = x"yes"])
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(system-talloc,
+	[AS_HELP_STRING(
+		[--enable-system-talloc],
+		[Enable using a system-level talloc library]
+	)],
+	[enable_system_talloc=$enableval], [enable_system_talloc="no"])
+AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_SYSTEM_TALLOC, [test x"$enable_system_talloc" = x"yes"])
+if test x"$enable_system_talloc" = x"yes"; then
+	PKG_CHECK_MODULES(TALLOC, talloc)
+	if test x"$enable_talloc" = x"yes"; then
+		AC_MSG_ERROR([You cannot enable both internal and system talloc])
+	fi
+fi
+
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(plugin,
 	[AS_HELP_STRING(
 		[--disable-plugin],
@@ -191,6 +205,35 @@
 	AC_DEFINE([PANIC_INFLOOP],[1],[Use infinite loop on panic rather than fprintf/abort])
 fi
 
+AC_OUTPUT_COMMANDS([
+	if test -n "$CONFIG_FILES" && test -n "$CONFIG_HEADERS"; then
+		CONFIG_OTHER=${CONFIG_OTHER-include/osmocom/core/talloc.h}
+	fi
+	case "$CONFIG_OTHER" in
+	"include/osmocom/core/talloc.h")
+		outfile=include/osmocom/core/talloc.h
+		stampfile=include/stamp-talloc
+		tmpfile=${outfile}T
+		dirname="sed s,^.*/,,g"
+
+		echo creating $outfile
+		cat > $outfile << _EOF_
+/* DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!  It has been automaticall generated from
+ * configure.ac on host: `(hostname || uname -n) 2>/dev/null | sed 1q`
+ */
+#pragma once
+_EOF_
+		if test x"$enable_system_talloc" = x"yes"; then
+			echo '#include <talloc.h>' >> $outfile
+		else
+			echo '#include <osmocom/core/talloc-internal.h>' >> $outfile
+		fi
+	esac
+],[
+   srcdir=$srcdir
+   enable_system_talloc=$enable_system_talloc
+])
+
 
 AC_OUTPUT(
 	libosmocore.pc
diff --git a/include/Makefile.am b/include/Makefile.am
index 2073580..b8739e0 100644
--- a/include/Makefile.am
+++ b/include/Makefile.am
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
                        osmocom/core/socket.h \
                        osmocom/core/statistics.h \
                        osmocom/core/strrb.h \
+                       osmocom/core/talloc.h \
                        osmocom/core/timer.h \
                        osmocom/core/utils.h \
                        osmocom/core/write_queue.h \
@@ -97,7 +98,7 @@
 endif
 
 if ENABLE_TALLOC
-nobase_include_HEADERS += osmocom/core/talloc.h
+nobase_include_HEADERS += osmocom/core/talloc-internal.h
 endif
 
 if ENABLE_MSGFILE
@@ -133,3 +134,15 @@
 osmocom/core/crc%gen.h: osmocom/core/crcXXgen.h.tpl
 	$(AM_V_GEN)$(MKDIR_P) $(dir $@)
 	$(AM_V_GEN)sed -e's/XX/$*/g' $< > $@
+
+# regenerate talloc.h with config.status every time config.status changes
+osmocom/core/talloc.h: stamp-talloc
+	:
+
+stamp-talloc: $(top_builddir)/config.status
+	cd $(top_builddir) \
+		&& CONFIG_FILES= CONFIG_HEADERS= CONFIG_OTHER=osmocom/core/talloc.h \
+		$(SHELL) ./config.status
+	echo timestamp > $@
+
+DISTCLEANFILES = stamp-talloc
diff --git a/include/osmocom/core/talloc.h b/include/osmocom/core/talloc-internal.h
similarity index 100%
rename from include/osmocom/core/talloc.h
rename to include/osmocom/core/talloc-internal.h
diff --git a/libosmocore.pc.in b/libosmocore.pc.in
index 7c29869..0666e0c 100644
--- a/libosmocore.pc.in
+++ b/libosmocore.pc.in
@@ -6,6 +6,6 @@
 Name: Osmocom Core Library
 Description: C Utility Library
 Version: @VERSION@
-Libs: -L${libdir} -losmocore
+Libs: -L${libdir} @TALLOC_LIBS@ -losmocore
 Cflags: -I${includedir}/