diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/wscript b/gtk2_ardour/wscript
index 2cfd2ea497..c9d6fc8c49 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/wscript
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/wscript
@@ -262,10 +262,6 @@ def configure(conf):
         '', '')
     autowaf.configure(conf)
 
-    if Options.options.dist_target == 'auto':
-        if re.search ("linux", sys.platform) != None:
-            autowaf.check_pkg(conf, 'alsa', uselib_store='ALSA')
-
     # TODO: Insert a sanity check for on OS X to ensure CoreAudio is present
 
     autowaf.check_pkg(conf, 'fftw3f', uselib_store='FFTW3F',
diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index b29a39b6ae..2275296ac6 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -649,6 +649,9 @@ def configure(conf):
                   okmsg = 'ok',
                   errmsg = 'too old\nPlease install boost version 1.39 or higher.')
 
+    if re.search ("linux", sys.platform) != None:
+        autowaf.check_pkg(conf, 'alsa', uselib_store='ALSA')
+
     autowaf.check_pkg(conf, 'glib-2.0', uselib_store='GLIB', atleast_version='2.2', mandatory=True)
     autowaf.check_pkg(conf, 'gthread-2.0', uselib_store='GTHREAD', atleast_version='2.2', mandatory=True)
     autowaf.check_pkg(conf, 'glibmm-2.4', uselib_store='GLIBMM', atleast_version='2.32.0', mandatory=True)