diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index fe66102f2..b53fea8a3 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2008-05-23  Richard Frith-Macdonald <rfm@gnu.org>
+
+	* configure.ac: Check for systems which need -lnsl (solaris)
+
 2008-05-22  Richard Frith-Macdonald <rfm@gnu.org>
 
 	* SSL/GSSSLHandle.m: Attempt to improve error logging.
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 804a2fbb7..16f481d4d 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -13815,8 +13815,80 @@ fi
 
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------
 # These used by GSFileHandle.m and distributed objects
+# On some systems we need -lnsl ... so check for that first.
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+{ echo "$as_me:$LINENO: checking for inet_ntop in -lnsl" >&5
+echo $ECHO_N "checking for inet_ntop in -lnsl... $ECHO_C" >&6; }
+if test "${ac_cv_lib_nsl_inet_ntop+set}" = set; then
+  echo $ECHO_N "(cached) $ECHO_C" >&6
+else
+  ac_check_lib_save_LIBS=$LIBS
+LIBS="-lnsl  $LIBS"
+cat >conftest.$ac_ext <<_ACEOF
+/* confdefs.h.  */
+_ACEOF
+cat confdefs.h >>conftest.$ac_ext
+cat >>conftest.$ac_ext <<_ACEOF
+/* end confdefs.h.  */
+
+/* Override any GCC internal prototype to avoid an error.
+   Use char because int might match the return type of a GCC
+   builtin and then its argument prototype would still apply.  */
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C"
+#endif
+char inet_ntop ();
+int
+main ()
+{
+return inet_ntop ();
+  ;
+  return 0;
+}
+_ACEOF
+rm -f conftest.$ac_objext conftest$ac_exeext
+if { (ac_try="$ac_link"
+case "(($ac_try" in
+  *\"* | *\`* | *\\*) ac_try_echo=\$ac_try;;
+  *) ac_try_echo=$ac_try;;
+esac
+eval "echo \"\$as_me:$LINENO: $ac_try_echo\"") >&5
+  (eval "$ac_link") 2>conftest.er1
+  ac_status=$?
+  grep -v '^ *+' conftest.er1 >conftest.err
+  rm -f conftest.er1
+  cat conftest.err >&5
+  echo "$as_me:$LINENO: \$? = $ac_status" >&5
+  (exit $ac_status); } && {
+	 test -z "$ac_c_werror_flag" ||
+	 test ! -s conftest.err
+       } && test -s conftest$ac_exeext &&
+       $as_test_x conftest$ac_exeext; then
+  ac_cv_lib_nsl_inet_ntop=yes
+else
+  echo "$as_me: failed program was:" >&5
+sed 's/^/| /' conftest.$ac_ext >&5
+
+	ac_cv_lib_nsl_inet_ntop=no
+fi
+
+rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext conftest_ipa8_conftest.oo \
+      conftest$ac_exeext conftest.$ac_ext
+LIBS=$ac_check_lib_save_LIBS
+fi
+{ echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: $ac_cv_lib_nsl_inet_ntop" >&5
+echo "${ECHO_T}$ac_cv_lib_nsl_inet_ntop" >&6; }
+if test $ac_cv_lib_nsl_inet_ntop = yes; then
+  cat >>confdefs.h <<_ACEOF
+#define HAVE_LIBNSL 1
+_ACEOF
+
+  LIBS="-lnsl $LIBS"
+
+fi
+
+
 
 
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8c566cd0f..f4cf998ea 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1570,7 +1570,9 @@ AC_SUBST(DEFINE_UINTPTR_T)
 
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------
 # These used by GSFileHandle.m and distributed objects
+# On some systems we need -lnsl ... so check for that first.
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------
+AC_CHECK_LIB(nsl, inet_ntop)
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(gethostbyaddr_r inet_aton inet_pton inet_ntop sigaction)
 USE_ZLIB=0
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(zlib.h)