diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 579c6bd5..b0c3f8dc 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -142,8 +142,8 @@ if test "$enable_client" = yes ; then
 	AC_CHECK_LIB(ncurses, tgetent, USE_TERMCAP_LIB=-lncurses,
 		AC_CHECK_LIB(curses, tgetent, USE_TERMCAP_LIB=-lcurses,
 			AC_CHECK_LIB(termcap, tgetent, USE_TERMCAP_LIB=-ltermcap)))
-	AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, readline, CLIENT_LIBS="-lreadline $CLIENT_LIBS $USE_TERMCAP_LIB",
-		AC_MSG_ERROR([[The client requires GNU readline library. Either install the library or use --disable-client to compile without the client.]]), $USE_TERMCAP_LIB)
+	AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_callback_read_char, CLIENT_LIBS="-lreadline $CLIENT_LIBS $USE_TERMCAP_LIB",
+		AC_MSG_ERROR([[The client requires GNU readline library 4.0 or newer. Either install the library or use --disable-client to compile without the client.]]), $USE_TERMCAP_LIB)
 fi
 AC_SUBST(CLIENT)
 AC_SUBST(CLIENT_LIBS)