diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index d5c9c575..87b53e24 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ NEWS
   * rewrite network sendfile/mmap/writev/write backends
   * fix some unchecked return value warnings
   * [kqueue] fix kevent call
+  * [autoconf] define HAVE_CRYPT when crypt() is present
 
 - 1.4.36 - 2015-07-26
   * use keep-alive timeout while waiting for HTTP headers; use always the read timeout while waiting for the HTTP body
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 57ac5ab0..5f8d10fa 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -540,6 +540,7 @@ AC_SEARCH_LIBS([crypt_r],[crypt],[
   CRYPT_LIB=$LIBS
 ],[
   AC_SEARCH_LIBS([crypt],[crypt],[
+    AC_DEFINE([HAVE_CRYPT], [1], [crypt])
     AC_CHECK_HEADERS([crypt.h],[
       AC_DEFINE([HAVE_CRYPT_H], [1], [crypt.h])
     ])