diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 6bbec85d32..1cfb51f91d 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -113,6 +113,20 @@ automake --add-missing --copy --warnings=all || bail_out
 echo "Running autoconf"
 autoconf || bail_out
 
+if grep -q AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG configure; then
+  # The generated configure is invalid because autoconf-archive is unavailable.
+  rm configure
+  echo "Missing autoconf-archive. Check the build requirements."
+  bail_out
+fi
+
+if grep -q PKG_CHECK_MODULES configure; then
+  # The generated configure is invalid because pkg-confg is unavailable.
+  rm configure
+  echo "Missing pkg-config. Check the build requirements."
+  bail_out
+fi
+
 echo ""
 echo "All done."
 echo "To build the software now, do something like:"