--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -12792,4 +12792,7 @@
 if test -n "$with_ltdl_lib"; then
-  if test -f "$with_ltdl_lib/libltdl.la"; then :
-  else
+  # check for the existence of "$with_ltdl_lib/libltdl.la" while
+  # allowing people to delete the libtool archive file (which isn't
+  # useful in this case in many common platforms.)
+  with_ltdl_lib_libname=`echo "$with_ltdl_lib"/libltdl.*`
+  if test "x$with_ltdl_lib_libname" = "x$with_ltdl_lib/libltdl.*"; then
     as_fn_error $? "invalid ltdl library directory: \`$with_ltdl_lib'" "$LINENO" 5