diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9ad16d8fb..262dc4ba5 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ dnl it should be safe to re-edit 0.40 back down to 0.23
 use_nls=no
 if test "x$enable_nls" = "xyes" ; then
     use_nls=yes
-    IT_PROG_INTLTOOL([0.35.0],[no-xml])
+    m4_ifdef(IT_PROG_INTLTOOL, IT_PROG_INTLTOOL([0.35.0],[no-xml]) 
     AC_CHECK_HEADERS([libintl.h])
     GETTEXT_PACKAGE=transmission-gtk
     AC_SUBST(GETTEXT_PACKAGE)