diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ad6bf9a..7e394c2 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -120,6 +120,9 @@
 
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES(LIBUSB, libusb-1.0)
 
+AC_CHECK_HEADER([boost/config.hpp],[],
+    [AC_MSG_ERROR([boost/config.hpp not found, install e.g. libboost-dev])])
+
 dnl Output files
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([\
     Makefile \