diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 70548c17ef..89fdc27bfd 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+1998-03-20  Andreas Jaeger  <aj@arthur.rhein-neckar.de>
+
+	* configure.in: Check for recent egcs/gcc.
+
 1998-03-20  Ulrich Drepper  <drepper@cygnus.com>
 
 	* libc.map: Add alphasort64, scandir64, versionsort64.
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index da998bca0c..cd89b421b4 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -468,6 +468,24 @@ LIBC_PROG_BINUTILS
 AC_CHECK_TOOL(AR, ar)
 AC_CHECK_TOOL(RANLIB, ranlib, :)
 
+# check for recent compiler
+AC_MSG_CHECKING(compiler version)
+case `${CC-cc} -v 2>&1` in
+  *egcs-2.91.* | *egcs-1.0.[2-9]* | *egcs-1.1* | *2.8.[1-9]* | *2.9.[0-9] )
+    cc_is_recent="ok"
+    ;;
+  *)
+    cc_is_recent="too old"
+    ;;
+esac
+AC_MSG_RESULT($cc_is_recent)
+if test $cc_is_recent != ok; then
+  AC_MSG_WARN([
+*** Your compiler is too old.
+*** You need at least egcs 1.0.2 or GNU CC 2.8.1 to compile glibc.
+])
+fi
+
 AC_PATH_PROG(BASH, bash, no)
 if test "$BASH" != no &&
    $BASH -c 'test "$BASH_VERSINFO" \