diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c2878e3d4..82b28ce9a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1486,6 +1486,7 @@ AC_ARG_WITH(ldns,
 		else
 			LIBS="$LIBS `$LDNSCONFIG --libs`"
 			CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS `$LDNSCONFIG --cflags`"
+			ldns=yes
 		fi
 	elif test "x$withval" != "xno" ; then
 			CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -I${withval}/include"