--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 AC_CHECK_LIB(socket,gethostbyname)
 AC_CHECK_LIB(nsl,gethostbyname)
 AC_CHECK_LIB(nsl,inet_addr)
-AC_CHECK_LIB(ncurses, initscr)
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES(ncurses,ncurses,LIBS="$LIBS $ncurses_LIBS",AC_MSG_ERROR([ncurses is required]))
 AC_CHECK_LIB(pcap, pcap_open_live)
 AC_CHECK_LIB(pthread, pthread_create)
 AC_CHECK_LIB(rt, nanosleep)