diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 731d896aae..21151eacb4 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1357,6 +1357,11 @@ if test $arch = "powerpc"; then
             add_cflags "-maltivec -mabi=altivec"
         fi
     fi
+
+    if test "$swscaler" != "no"; then
+        echo "The software scaler is under GPL and --enable-gpl is not specified."
+        fail="yes"
+    fi
 fi
 
 check_header altivec.h