diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 110b0cb..1eda608 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,9 +1,18 @@
-AC_INIT([libtelnet], [0.10], [http://github.com/elanthis/libtelnet/tree/master])
+AC_INIT([libtelnet], [0.11], [http://github.com/elanthis/libtelnet/tree/master])
 
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
 
 AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
 
+# zlib support
+AC_CHECK_LIB(z,deflate,ZLIB=yes,ZLIB=no)
+if test "x$ZLIB" = "xyes" ; then
+	LIBS="$LIBS -lz"
+	AC_DEFINE(HAVE_ZLIB, 1, [We have zlib])
+	LIBTELNET_HAVE_ZLIB="-DHAVE_ZLIB"
+	AC_SUBST(LIBTELNET_HAVE_ZLIB)
+fi
+
 AC_CONFIG_FILES(Makefile)
 AC_OUTPUT