diff --git a/runtime/staprun/configure.ac b/runtime/staprun/configure.ac
index 79d68ee..8490a42 100644
--- a/runtime/staprun/configure.ac
+++ b/runtime/staprun/configure.ac
@@ -73,11 +73,11 @@ dnl is too tricky to bother with.
 
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([libelf.h])
 
+AC_CHECK_LIB(elf, elf_begin, [staprun_LIBS="$staprun_LIBS -lelf"], [])
 save_LIBS="$LIBS"
 dnl this will only succeed with elfutils 0.142+
 AC_CHECK_LIB(elf,elf_getshdrstrndx,[
         AC_DEFINE([HAVE_ELF_GETSHDRSTRNDX],[1],[Define to 1 if libelf has elf_getshdrstrndx])])
-staprun_LIBS="$staprun_LIBS -lelf"
 LIBS="$save_LIBS"  
 
 AC_SUBST(staprun_LIBS)