diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 9cd4147..ad23922 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -247,10 +247,17 @@ if test x$HAVE_SNDFILE = xfalse; then
              AC_MSG_WARN([*** the jackrec example client will not be built])
 fi
 
-AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, readline, [HAVE_READLINE=true], [HAVE_READLINE=false])
+# on some systems, readline depends on termcap or ncurses, respectively
+READLINE_DEPS=""
+AC_CHECK_LIB(termcap, tgetent, [READLINE_DEPS="$READLINE_DEPS -ltermcap"])
+AC_CHECK_LIB(ncurses, tgetent, [READLINE_DEPS="$READLINE_DEPS -lncurses"])
+AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, readline,
+             [HAVE_READLINE=true], [HAVE_READLINE=false], [$READLINE_DEPS]
+)
 if test x$HAVE_READLINE = xfalse; then
 	AC_MSG_WARN([*** the jack_transport example client will not be built])
 fi
+AC_SUBST(READLINE_DEPS)
 
 # you need doxygen to make dist.
 AC_CHECK_PROG(HAVE_DOXYGEN, doxygen, true, false)
diff --git a/example-clients/Makefile.am b/example-clients/Makefile.am
index 6895c28..ae24c2e 100644
--- a/example-clients/Makefile.am
+++ b/example-clients/Makefile.am
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ endif
 
 if HAVE_READLINE
 jack_transport_SOURCES = transport.c
-jack_transport_LDFLAGS = -lhistory -lreadline -lrt -ldl -lpthread
+jack_transport_LDFLAGS = -lhistory -lreadline @READLINE_DEPS@ -lrt -ldl -lpthread
 jack_transport_LDADD = ../libjack/libjack.la
 endif