diff -Nur xchat-gnome-0.17.orig/configure.ac xchat-gnome-0.17/configure.ac
--- xchat-gnome-0.17.orig/configure.ac	2007-04-01 23:27:46.000000000 +0000
+++ xchat-gnome-0.17/configure.ac	2007-04-02 19:38:11.563221660 +0000
@@ -111,12 +111,14 @@
 AM_CONDITIONAL([ENABLE_DBUS],[test "x$dbus" = "xyes"])
 
 # libnotify soft dependency
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES([LIBNOTIFY], [libnotify >= $LIBNOTIFY_REQUIRED], libnotify=yes, libnotify=no)
-AC_SUBST([LIBNOTIFY_CFLAGS])
-AC_SUBST([LIBNOTIFY_LIBS])
+if test "x$enable_libnotify" = "xyes"; then
+	PKG_CHECK_MODULES([LIBNOTIFY], [libnotify >= $LIBNOTIFY_REQUIRED], libnotify=yes, libnotify=no)
+	AC_SUBST([LIBNOTIFY_CFLAGS])
+	AC_SUBST([LIBNOTIFY_LIBS])
+fi
 AM_CONDITIONAL([ENABLE_LIBNOTIFY],[test "x$libnotify" = "xyes"])
-if test "x$libnotify" != "xyes"; then
-	AC_MSG_WARN([Library requirements (libnotify >= $LIBNOTIFY_REQUIRED) not met; consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if your libraries are in a nonstandard prefix so pkg-config can find them.])
+if test "x$enable_libnotify" = "xyes" && test "x$libnotify" != "xyes"; then
+	AC_MSG_ERROR([libnotify not found])
 fi
 
 # GConf