diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8ca7a3d5e..34206e383 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -219,18 +219,31 @@ dnl ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 dnl
 dnl  utp
 
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([µTP])
+build_utp="no"
+if test "x$CXX" = "x" ; then
+    have_utp="no"
+else
+    have_utp="yes"
+fi
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([utp],
               AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-utp],[build µTP support]),
-              [build_utp=${enableval}],
-              [build_utp=no])
-if test "x$build_utp" = "xyes" ; then
-    LIBUTP_CFLAGS="-I\$(top_srcdir)/third-party/"
-    LIBUTP_LIBS="\$(top_builddir)/third-party/libutp/libutp.a -lrt"
-    AC_DEFINE([WITH_UTP],[1])
-fi
+              [want_utp=${enableval}],
+              [want_utp=${have_utp}])
+if test "x$want_utp" = "xyes" ; then
+    if test "x$have_utp" = "xyes"; then 
+        LIBUTP_CFLAGS="-I\$(top_srcdir)/third-party/"
+        LIBUTP_LIBS="\$(top_builddir)/third-party/libutp/libutp.a -lrt"
+        AC_DEFINE([WITH_UTP],[1])
+        build_utp="yes"
+    else 
+      AC_MSG_ERROR("Unable to build uTP support -- C++ compiler not found") 
+    fi 
+fi 
 AC_SUBST(LIBUTP_CFLAGS)
 AC_SUBST(LIBUTP_LIBS)
 AM_CONDITIONAL([BUILD_UTP],[test "x$build_utp" = "xyes"])
+AC_MSG_RESULT([$build_utp])
 
 
 dnl ----------------------------------------------------------------------------