diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index dbf152c0..76f818e5 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -86,16 +86,16 @@ BUILD_DIR_PATH=$(pwd)
 # Combine to get the full path to the scrdir:
 THIS_TOP_SRC_DIR=$BUILD_DIR_PATH/$MYSRCDIR
 _gt_shared_mul_min_version=0.0.3
-AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether shared-mul is at least $_gt_shared_mul_min_version])
 AS_IF([test -d "$THIS_TOP_SRC_DIR"/../shared-mul],
-        [AS_IF([pkg-config --atleast-version=$_gt_shared_mul_min_version --with-path="$THIS_TOP_SRC_DIR"/../shared-mul giella-shared-mul],
-               [AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])],
-               [AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
-                AC_MSG_WARN([shared-mul is too old for this giella-core, please update])])],
-        [AS_IF([pkg-config --atleast-version=$_gt_shared_mul_min_version giella-shared-mul],
-               [AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])],
-               [AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
-                AC_MSG_WARN([shared-mul is too old for this giella-core, please update])])])
+      [flub=$PKG_CONFIG_PATH
+       export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$THIS_TOP_SRC_DIR/../shared-mul:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH
+       PKG_CHECK_MODULES([SHARED_MUL], [giella-shared-mul >= $_gt_shared_mul_min_version],
+             [AC_MSG_NOTICE([NB using shared-mul in $THIS_TOP_SRC_DIR/../shared-mul])],
+             [AC_MSG_ERROR([shared-mul needs to be updated, cd ../shared-mul and git pull and build])])
+       export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$flub],
+      [PKG_CHECK_MODULES([SHARED_MUL], [giella-shared-mul >= $_gt_shared_mul_min_version],
+             [AC_MSG_RESULT([NB using system shared-mul])],
+             [AC_MSG_WARN([shared-mul needs to be updated and installed])])])