diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 3a01b2a455..091c869b80 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -984,7 +984,7 @@ case "$LIBIDN" in
          curl_idn_msg="enabled"
          dnl different versions of libidn have different setups of these:
          AC_CHECK_FUNCS( idn_free idna_strerror tld_strerror)
-         AC_CHECK_HEADERS( idn-free.h )
+         AC_CHECK_HEADERS( idn-free.h tld.h )
        fi
                     
        ;; 
diff --git a/lib/setup.h b/lib/setup.h
index f121b7320c..e535279c81 100644
--- a/lib/setup.h
+++ b/lib/setup.h
@@ -281,11 +281,12 @@ typedef int curl_socket_t;
 #undef HAVE_ALARM
 #endif
 
-#ifdef HAVE_LIBIDN
-/* This could benefit from additional checks that some of the used/important
-   header files are present as well before we define the USE_* define. */
+#if defined(HAVE_LIBIDN) && defined(HAVE_TLD_H)
+/* The lib was present and the tld.h header (which is missing in libidn 0.3.X
+   but we only work with libidn 0.4.1 or later) */
 #define USE_LIBIDN
-#define LIBIDN_REQUIRED_VERSION "0.4.1"
 #endif
 
+#define LIBIDN_REQUIRED_VERSION "0.4.1"
+
 #endif /* __CONFIG_H */