diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 48126544c..6712ba81c 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(checker,
 
 dnl --enable-gc : Enable Boehm-Weiser Conservative Garbage Collector
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(checker,
-    [  --enable-gc             Use Boehm-Weiser Conservative Garbage Collector ])
+    [  --enable-gc             Use Boehm-Weiser Conservative Garbage Collector. Disabled by default. ])
  
 dnl --enable-nosqrt : define NOSQRT for the code
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(nosqrt,
@@ -322,9 +322,11 @@ AC_CHECK_HEADERS(float.h limits.h values.h)
 dnl Check for a few mathematical functions:
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(erfc logb scalb scalbn asinh acosh atanh)
 
+dnl If user enables garbage collection, look for garbage collector
+if test "$enable_gc" = "yes"; then
 AC_MSG_RESULT(Checking for the presence of the Garbage Collector:)
-dnl Check for the garbage collector:
 AC_CHECK_LIB(gc,GC_malloc,AC_DEFINE(HAVE_LIBGC) LIBS="$LIBS -lgc")
+fi
 
 dnl Check for the asprintf function:
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(asprintf,,AC_CHECK_LIB(iberty,asprintf,AC_DEFINE(HAVE_ASPRINTF) LIBS="$LIBS -liberty"))