diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index b677b74da..e59f768d2 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
 
 lrelease:
 if HAVE_GUI
-	lrelease lang/*.ts
+	$(LRELEASE_PATH) lang/*.ts
 endif
 
 qrc_img_resources.py: imgList.xml
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e92a0956c..e68ba1bbf 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -83,9 +83,9 @@ AC_CHECK_PROG([HAVE_PYRCC4], [pyrcc4], [yes], [no])
 AS_IF([test $HAVE_PYRCC4 == yes], [],
 	[AC_MSG_ERROR([missing pyrcc4 in path, make sure pyqt4-dev-tools is installed])]) 
 
-AC_CHECK_PROG([HAVE_LRELEASE], [lrelease], [yes], [no])
-AS_IF([test $HAVE_LRELEASE == yes], [],
-	[AC_MSG_ERROR([missing lrelease in path, make sure qt4-linguist-tools is installed])]) 
+AC_PATH_PROG([LRELEASE_PATH], [lrelease], [])
+AS_IF([test "x$LRELEASE_PATH" != "x" ], [],
+  [AC_MSG_ERROR([missing lrelease in path, make sure qt4-linguist-tools is installed or specify LRELEASE_PATH])])
 
 fi