diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 54f5a809e5a..bc5b3fcd77e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 2012-01-31  Glenn Morris  <rgm@gnu.org>
 
+	* configure.in: Throw an explicit error if Motif toolkit was
+	requested but requirements could not be found.
+
 	* configure.in: Allow Emacs to actually be built with xaw scroll-bars.
 
 2012-01-30  Eli Zaretskii  <eliz@gnu.org>
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 7ec17a176d6..9eae1a51767 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -2234,6 +2234,8 @@ Motif version prior to 2.1.
       CPPFLAGS=$OLD_CPPFLAGS
     fi
   fi
+  AC_CHECK_HEADER([Xm/BulletinB.h], [],
+    [AC_MSG_ERROR([Motif toolkit requested but requirements not found.])])
 fi
 
 dnl Use toolkit scroll bars if configured for GTK or X toolkit and either