diff --git a/config.h.cmake.in b/config.h.cmake.in
index effca2a5c80..720d679c867 100644
--- a/config.h.cmake.in
+++ b/config.h.cmake.in
@@ -178,9 +178,6 @@ don't. */
 /* Define to 1 if you have the <linux/types.h> header file. */
 #cmakedefine HAVE_LINUX_TYPES_H
 
-/* Define to 1 if you have the <lzoconf.h> header file. */
-#define HAVE_LZO_CONF_H
-
 /* Define to 1 if you have the <lzo1x.h> header file. */
 #define HAVE_LZO1X_H 1
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c01ad093d1c..555c97e75e5 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1143,8 +1143,17 @@ fi
 
 AC_ARG_VAR([LZO_CFLAGS], [C compiler flags for lzo])
 AC_ARG_VAR([LZO_LIBS], [linker flags for lzo])
-have_lzo="yes"
-if test -z "${LZO_LIBS}"; then
+if test -z "${LZO_CFLAGS}" -a -z "${LZO_LIBS}"; then
+    # if the user did not explicitly specify flags, try to autodetect
+    PKG_CHECK_MODULES([LZO],
+		[lzo2],
+		[have_lzo="yes"],
+		[]
+    )
+
+    if test "${have_lzo}" != "yes"; then
+	# try to detect without pkg-config
+	have_lzo="yes"
 	AC_CHECK_LIB(
 		[lzo2],
 		[lzo1x_1_15_compress],
@@ -1156,6 +1165,10 @@ if test -z "${LZO_LIBS}"; then
 			[have_lzo="no"]
 		)]
 	)
+    fi
+else
+    # assume the user configured it correctly
+    have_lzo="yes"
 fi
 if test "${have_lzo}" = "yes"; then
 	saved_CFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
@@ -1166,8 +1179,11 @@ if test "${have_lzo}" = "yes"; then
 		[AC_CHECK_HEADERS(
 			[lzo1x.h],
 			,
-			[AC_MSG_ERROR([lzo1x.h is missing])]
-		)]
+			[AC_MSG_ERROR([lzo1x.h is missing])],
+                        [#include <limits.h>
+                         #include <lzodefs.h>
+                         #include <lzoconf.h>]
+		)],
 	)
 	CFLAGS="${saved_CFLAGS}"
 fi
diff --git a/src/openvpn/lzo.h b/src/openvpn/lzo.h
index 62d73a1b36b..c271527697e 100644
--- a/src/openvpn/lzo.h
+++ b/src/openvpn/lzo.h
@@ -37,17 +37,15 @@
  * @addtogroup compression
  * @{
  */
-#if defined(HAVE_LZO_CONF_H)
+#if defined(HAVE_LZO_LZO1X_H)
+#include <lzo/lzo1x.h>
+#elif defined(HAVE_LZO1X_H)
 /* The lzo.h magic gets confused and still wants
  * to include lzo/lzoconf.h even if our include paths
  * are setup to include the paths without lzo/
  */
 #include <lzodefs.h>
 #include <lzoconf.h>
-#endif
-#if defined(HAVE_LZO_LZO1X_H)
-#include <lzo/lzo1x.h>
-#elif defined(HAVE_LZO1X_H)
 #include <lzo1x.h>
 #endif