diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8dde11ff9..c0e03c69e 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -169,13 +169,13 @@ AC_TRY_LINK([#include <stdarg.h>], [va_list ap1, ap2; va_copy(ap1, ap2);],
 AC_CHECK_HEADER([event-config.h],
                 [libevent_source=system
                  LIBEVENT_CPPFLAGS=""
-                 LIBEVENT_LIBS="-levent"],
+                 LIBEVENT_LIBS="-levent -lrt"],
                 [libevent_source=bundled
                  AC_MSG_NOTICE([couldn't find event-config.h, so using our own copy of libevent from third-party/libevent/.])
                  AC_MSG_NOTICE([if you are cross-compiling this is probably NOT what you want.])
                  AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS([third-party/libevent])
                  LIBEVENT_CPPFLAGS="-I\$(top_srcdir)/third-party/libevent -I\$(top_builddir)/third-party/libevent"
-                 LIBEVENT_LIBS="\$(top_builddir)/third-party/libevent/.libs/libevent.a"])
+                 LIBEVENT_LIBS="\$(top_builddir)/third-party/libevent/libevent.la"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([BUILD_LIBEVENT], [test x$libevent_source = xbundled])
 AC_SUBST(LIBEVENT_CPPFLAGS)
 AC_SUBST(LIBEVENT_LIBS)