diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index be06c84e3..3ebe71b4d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -93,7 +93,14 @@ TUXBOX_APPS_LIB_PKGCONFIG(CURL,libcurl)
 
 ## For the check you must use the corresponding libtool number as version number,
 ## see freetype source code docs/VERSIONS.TXT
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES([FREETYPE], [freetype2 >= 16.2.10], echo "freetype2 >= 2.5.0 found", [echo "freetype2 >= 2.5.0 not found"; exit 1])
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES([FREETYPE], [freetype2 >= 16.2.10],
+	[echo "freetype2 >= 2.5.0 found"], [
+	## If freetype is not found:
+	## Activate this line if you want to search with freetype-config instead
+	[echo "freetype2 >= 2.5.0 not found, use alternative search method with freetype-config"]
+	## Activate this line if you want to abort
+#	AC_MSG_ERROR([freetype2 >= 2.5.0 not found])
+	])
 
 # fallback to curl-config (which is ugly for cross-compilation)
 if test -z "$CURL_LIBS" -a -z "$CURL_CFLAGS"; then
@@ -102,7 +109,7 @@ fi
 # fallback to freetype-config (which is ugly for cross-compilation)
 if test -z "$FREETYPE_LIBS" -a -z "$FREETYPE_CFLAGS"; then
 	TUXBOX_APPS_LIB_CONFIG(FREETYPE,freetype-config)
-	CPPFLAGS+="$FREETYPE_CFLAGS"
+	CPPFLAGS+=" $FREETYPE_CFLAGS"
 	AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether FreeType version is 2.5.0 or higher])
 		AC_TRY_CPP([
 			#include <ft2build.h>