diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1b534cb7bf..7e042f39a4 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -222,9 +222,14 @@ esac
 AC_SUBST(DARWIN_LDFLAGS)
 
 dnl *** Check for bz2
-AG_GST_CHECK_LIBHEADER(BZ2, bz2, BZ2_bzlibVersion, , bzlib.h, have_bz2=yes, have_bz2=no)
-AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_BZ2, test "x$have_bz2" = "xyes")
-if test "x$have_bz2" = "xno"; then
+save_LIBS=$LIBS
+LIBS="$LIBS -lbz2"
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([for BZ2_bzlibVersion in -lbz2])
+AC_LINK_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[#include <bzlib.h>]], [[const char *version = BZ2_bzlibVersion ();]])],[HAVE_BZ2=yes],[HAVE_BZ2=no])
+AC_MSG_RESULT($HAVE_BZ2)
+LIBS=$save_LIBS
+AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_BZ2, test "x$HAVE_BZ2" = "xyes")
+if test "x$HAVE_BZ2" = "xno"; then
   AC_WARN([libbz2 not found, matroska demuxer will not be able to read bz2 tracks])
 fi