diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
index f514b8e..becbb91 100644
--- a/acinclude.m4
+++ b/acinclude.m4
@@ -427,7 +427,9 @@ AC_ARG_WITH(termlib,
  AC_MSG_RESULT($with_termlib)
  test x"$with_termlib" = xyes && with_termlib="terminfo mytinfo termlib termcap tinfo ncurses curses"
  for lib in $with_termlib; do
-   AC_CHECK_LIB($lib, tgetent, [W3M_LIBS="$W3M_LIBS -l$lib"; break])
+   AC_CHECK_LIB($lib, tgetent,
+                [W3M_LIBS="$W3M_LIBS -l$lib"; break],
+                [test "$lib" = curses && AC_MSG_ERROR([No terminal library found])])
  done
 ])
 #
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 6bf4c93..b798e7d 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -8803,6 +8803,8 @@ eval ac_res=\$$as_ac_Lib
 $as_echo "$ac_res" >&6; }
 if eval test \"x\$"$as_ac_Lib"\" = x"yes"; then :
   W3M_LIBS="$W3M_LIBS -l$lib"; break
+else
+  test "$lib" = curses && as_fn_error $? "No terminal library found" "$LINENO" 5
 fi
 
  done