diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1520,9 +1520,9 @@
 ### Check for BZIP2 library.
 
 OCTAVE_CHECK_LIB(bz2, BZIP2,
   [BZIP2 library not found.  Octave will not be able to compress or decompress bzip2 files.],
-  [bzlib.h], [BZ2_bzCompressInit])
+  [bzlib.h], [BZ2_bzCompressInit],[],[],[],[bzip2])
 
 ### Check for HDF5 library.
 
 save_CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS"