diff --git a/m4/check_curses.m4 b/m4/check_curses.m4
index 14aaec5..dca7c0e 100644
--- a/m4/check_curses.m4
+++ b/m4/check_curses.m4
@@ -229,16 +229,17 @@ AC_DEFUN([AC_NCURSES], [
 ])
 
 AC_DEFUN([AC_SEARCH_NCURSES], [
+    PKG_CHECK_MODULES(NCURSES,ncurses)
     AS_MESSAGE(checking "location of ncurses.h file"...)
 
-    AC_NCURSES(/usr/include, ncurses.h, -lncurses,, "ncurses on /usr/include")
-    AC_NCURSES(/usr/include/ncurses, ncurses.h, -lncurses, -I/usr/include/ncurses, "ncurses on /usr/include/ncurses")
-    AC_NCURSES(/usr/local/include, ncurses.h, -L/usr/local/lib -lncurses, -I/usr/local/include, "ncurses on /usr/local")
-    AC_NCURSES(/usr/local/include/ncurses, ncurses.h, -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/local/lib/ncurses -lncurses, -I/usr/local/include/ncurses, "ncurses on /usr/local/include/ncurses")
+    AC_NCURSES(/usr/include, ncurses.h, $NCURSES_LIBS,, "ncurses on /usr/include")
+    AC_NCURSES(/usr/include/ncurses, ncurses.h, $NCURSES_LIBS, -I/usr/include/ncurses, "ncurses on /usr/include/ncurses")
+    AC_NCURSES(/usr/local/include, ncurses.h, -L/usr/local/lib $NCURSES_LIBS, -I/usr/local/include, "ncurses on /usr/local")
+    AC_NCURSES(/usr/local/include/ncurses, ncurses.h, -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/local/lib/ncurses $NCURSES_LIBS, -I/usr/local/include/ncurses, "ncurses on /usr/local/include/ncurses")
 
-    AC_NCURSES(/usr/local/include/ncurses, curses.h, -L/usr/local/lib -lncurses, -I/usr/local/include/ncurses -DRENAMED_NCURSES, "renamed ncurses on /usr/local/.../ncurses")
+    AC_NCURSES(/usr/local/include/ncurses, curses.h, -L/usr/local/lib $NCURSES_LIBS, -I/usr/local/include/ncurses -DRENAMED_NCURSES, "renamed ncurses on /usr/local/.../ncurses")
 
-    AC_NCURSES(/usr/include/ncurses, curses.h, -lncurses, -I/usr/include/ncurses -DRENAMED_NCURSES, "renamed ncurses on /usr/include/ncurses")
+    AC_NCURSES(/usr/include/ncurses, curses.h, $NCURSES_LIBS, -I/usr/include/ncurses -DRENAMED_NCURSES, "renamed ncurses on /usr/include/ncurses")
 
     dnl
     dnl We couldn't find ncurses, try SysV curses