diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 990c1fcfc..8c73ce1a6 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 2001-05-30  Pavel Roskin  <proski@gnu.org>
 
+	* configure.in: Add check for iconv() and the necessary code
+	to support the charset selection patch.
+
 	* configure.in: Add check for ESCDELAY variable in ncurses.
 
 2001-05-29  Pavel Roskin  <proski@gnu.org>
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 476fcb524..eb0aea0aa 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -879,6 +879,32 @@ AC_SUBST(SEDCMD)
 AC_SUBST(SEDCMD2)
 
 
+dnl
+dnl Basic support for charset conversion.
+dnl May be useful e.g. for converting help and hints.
+dnl
+have_iconv=
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS(iconv, [have_iconv=yes])
+
+dnl
+dnl User visible support for charset conversion.
+dnl
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([charset],
+	      [--enable-charset           Support for charset selection and conversion])
+have_charset=
+if test "x$enable_charset" = xyes; then
+  if test -z "$have_iconv"; then
+    AC_MSG_WARN([Cannot enable charset support because iconv function is missing])
+  else
+    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_CHARSET, 1,
+	      [Define to enable charset selection and conversion])
+    have_charset=yes
+  fi
+fi
+
+AM_CONDITIONAL(CHARSET, [test -n "$have_charset"])
+
+
 dnl
 dnl This code should be moved to the ac_WITH_SLANG
 dnl