diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 17e03e38..7cdd05c2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -58,13 +58,15 @@ LIBS_SUBDIR := $(shell for i in ${MODULES}; do echo "$${i}/lib$${i}.a"; done)
 ${MODULES_SUBDIR}: FORCE
 	@${MAKE} -C $(dir $@) module
 
+.PHONY: modules
 modules: database/database.h depend ${MODULES_SUBDIR}
 
 ${LIBS_SUBDIR}: FORCE
 	@${MAKE} -C $(dir $@) lib
 
 # Force the tiles/utils modules to exist first for libdatabase.a
-libs: database/database.h tiles/libtiles.o utils/libutils.o depend ${LIBS_SUBDIR}
+.PHONY: libs
+libs: database/database.h depend tiles/libtiles.o utils/libutils.o ${LIBS_SUBDIR}
 
 #
 # extcheck - utility tool
diff --git a/readline/Makefile b/readline/Makefile
index 8e8f7af0..1d517c7a 100644
--- a/readline/Makefile
+++ b/readline/Makefile
@@ -2,9 +2,18 @@ MAGICDIR = ..
 
 include ${MAGICDIR}/defs.mak
 
-module: readline-create-symlinks libreadline.a libhistory.a
 
-lib: libreadline.a libhistory.a
+ifeq ($(MAKE_READLINE),1)
+TARGETS = libreadline.a libhistory.a
+else
+TARGETS =
+endif
+
+# We don't make a libreadline.o
+module:
+
+# We do make a libreadline.a
+lib: $(TARGETS)
 
 depend:
 
@@ -48,7 +57,7 @@ libreadline.a: build-readline/libreadline.a
 build-readline/libreadline.a build-readline/libhistory.a: readline-create-symlinks build-readline
 
 .PHONY: build-readline
-build-readline:
+build-readline: readline-create-symlinks
 	@if ! test -e build-readline/Makefile ; then \
 	echo --- building GNU readline ; \
 	$(MKDIR) -p build-readline ; \
diff --git a/scripts/configure.in b/scripts/configure.in
index f5003a9c..a9fea5a8 100644
--- a/scripts/configure.in
+++ b/scripts/configure.in
@@ -1100,33 +1100,57 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(readline,
   fi
 ])
 
+use_system_readline=yes
+use_bundled_readline=auto
+
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(readline-bundled,
+[  --enable-readline-bundled    enable readline bundled package],
+[ use_bundled_readline=yes
+], [
+  use_bundled_readline=no
+])
+
 if test "x$enable_readline" = "xyes" ; then
     AC_DEFINE(USE_READLINE)
-    use_system_readline=yes
-    AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_pre_input_hook,,
+    if test $use_bundled_readline != yes ; then
+    AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_pre_input_hook,[
+	dnl noop, prevent default action LIBS+=-lreadline
+	],
 	use_system_readline=no)
-    AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_username_completion_function,,
+    AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_username_completion_function,[
+	dnl noop, prevent default action LIBS+=-lreadline
+	],
 	use_system_readline=no)
-    AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_filename_completion_function,,
+    AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_filename_completion_function,[
+	dnl noop, prevent default action LIBS+=-lreadline
+	],
 	use_system_readline=no)
-    AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_attempted_completion_over,,
+    AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_attempted_completion_over,[
+	dnl noop, prevent default action LIBS+=-lreadline
+	],
 	use_system_readline=no)
-    if test $use_system_readline = yes ; then
+    fi
+    if test $use_system_readline = yes && test $use_bundled_readline != yes; then
 	AC_DEFINE(HAVE_READLINE)
 	rl_libs="-lreadline" 
+        use_bundled_readline=
     else
-	rl_libs="\${MAGICDIR}/readline/readline/libreadline.a"
+	echo "Using bundled readline"
+	AC_DEFINE(NEED_READLINE)
+	# not readline/libhistory.a (seems subset of libreadline.a)
+	rl_libs="\${MAGICDIR}/readline/libreadline.a"
 	CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -I\${MAGICDIR}/readline"
         use_bundled_readline=1
-    fi
-    AC_CHECK_LIB(termcap, tgetent, [
+
+        AC_CHECK_LIB(termcap, tgetent, [
 	rl_libs="$rl_libs -ltermcap"
 	], [
 	   AC_CHECK_LIB(ncurses, tgetent, [
 	      rl_libs="$rl_libs -lncurses"
 	   ], )
 	], )
-    modules="$modules readline"
+        modules="$modules readline"
+    fi
 else
   unused="$unused readline"
 fi
diff --git a/textio/txMain.c b/textio/txMain.c
index 6fb6cdae..aa8a52a7 100644
--- a/textio/txMain.c
+++ b/textio/txMain.c
@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@ global bool TxStdoutIsatty;
 #include <readline/readline.h>
 #include <readline/history.h>
 #else
-#include "readline/readline.h"
-#include "readline/history.h"
+#include "readline/readline/readline.h"
+#include "readline/readline/history.h"
 #endif
 
 int TxPrefix(void);