diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e7db018..3f5ea87 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -296,7 +296,9 @@ if test x$enable_poppler_glib = xyes; then
 fi
 AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_POPPLER_GLIB, test x$enable_poppler_glib = xyes)
 
-m4_ifdef([GTK_DOC_CHECK],[GTK_DOC_CHECK([1.0])])
+m4_ifdef([GTK_DOC_CHECK],[
+GTK_DOC_CHECK([1.0])
+])
 
 dnl
 dnl GDK
diff --git a/glib/reference/Makefile.am b/glib/reference/Makefile.am
index da0cf87..871fadd 100644
--- a/glib/reference/Makefile.am
+++ b/glib/reference/Makefile.am
@@ -86,3 +86,9 @@ GTKDOC_LIBS=$(top_builddir)/poppler/libpoppler.la	\
 # Other files to distribute
 # e.g. EXTRA_DIST += version.xml.in
 # EXTRA_DIST += 
+
+dist-hook:
+	@if test -n "@ENABLE_GTK_DOC_TRUE@"; then \
+		echo ""*** gtk-doc must be installed and enabled in order to make dist"; \
+		false; \
+	fi