diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 16852937aa..eae36a354a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -225,29 +225,12 @@ AC_SUBST(GST_PREFIX)
 AC_SUBST(GSTPB_PREFIX)
 
 dnl GTK is optional and used in examples
-HAVE_GTK=NO
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTK2, gtk+-2.0 >= 2.2.0, HAVE_GTK_22=yes, HAVE_GTK_22=no)
-if test "x$HAVE_GTK_22" = "xyes"; then
-  HAVE_GTK=yes
-  GTK_VERSION=`$PKG_CONFIG --variable=gtk_binary_version gtk+-2.0`
-  AC_SUBST(GTK_VERSION)
-  GTK_PREFIX=`$PKG_CONFIG --variable=prefix gdk-pixbuf-2.0`
-  AC_SUBST(GTK_BASE_DIR)
-  GDK_PIXBUF_LIBDIR=`$PKG_CONFIG --variable=libdir gdk-pixbuf-2.0`
-  GDK_PIXBUF_PREFIXDIR=`$PKG_CONFIG --variable=prefix gdk-pixbuf-2.0`
-  AC_SUBST(GTK_BASE_DIR)
-else
-  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTK2, gtk+-2.0, HAVE_GTK_20=yes, HAVE_GTK_20=no)
+if test "x$BUILD_EXAMPLES" = "xyes"; then
+  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTK, gtk+-2.0 >= 2.8.0, HAVE_GTK=yes, HAVE_GTK=no)
+  AC_SUBST(GTK_LIBS)
+  AC_SUBST(GTK_CFLAGS)
+  AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_GTK, test "x$HAVE_GTK" = "xyes")
 fi
-if test "x$HAVE_GTK_20" = "xyes"; then
-  HAVE_GTK=yes
-fi
-GTK_CFLAGS=$GTK2_CFLAGS
-GTK_LIBS=$GTK2_LIBS
-AC_SUBST(GTK_LIBS)
-AC_SUBST(GTK_CFLAGS)
-AC_SUBST(HAVE_GTK)
-AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_GTK, test "x$HAVE_GTK" = "xyes")
 
 dnl should we install schemas ?
 translit(dnm, m, l) AM_CONDITIONAL(USE_GCONFTOOL, true)