diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index d3ab07cf3..d5d8fb452 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 2002-12-24  Pavel Roskin  <proski@gnu.org>
 
+	* acinclude.m4 (MC_WITH_SLANG): Don't add -lslang to MCLIBS if
+	the system S-Lang is rejected.
+
 	* lib/mc.ext.in: Play *.mov by mplayer.
 
 2002-12-23  Pavel Roskin  <proski@gnu.org>
diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
index 76bba3b0c..abd5eefee 100644
--- a/acinclude.m4
+++ b/acinclude.m4
@@ -724,8 +724,6 @@ dnl If not, and $1 is "strict", exit, otherwise fall back to mcslang.
 dnl
 AC_DEFUN([MC_WITH_SLANG], [
     with_screen=slang
-    AC_CHECK_LIB([slang], [SLang_init_tty], [MCLIBS="$MCLIBS -lslang"],
-		 [with_screen=mcslang])
 
     dnl Unless external S-Lang was requested, reject S-Lang with UTF-8 hacks
     m4_if([$1], strict, ,
@@ -734,6 +732,11 @@ AC_DEFUN([MC_WITH_SLANG], [
 it doesn't work well])
 			with_screen=mcslang])])
 
+    if test x$with_screen = xslang; then
+	AC_CHECK_LIB([slang], [SLang_init_tty], [MCLIBS="$MCLIBS -lslang"],
+		     [with_screen=mcslang])
+    fi
+
     dnl Check the header
     if test x$with_screen = xslang; then
 	slang_h_found=