diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 2f9498ad..104ca3cb 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2012-10-07  Giuseppe Scrivano  <gscrivano@gnu.org>
+
+	* configure.ac: Check for patchconf.
+
 2012-09-23  Merinov Nikolay  <kim.roader@gmail.com>
 
 	* m4/wget.m4 (WGET_FNMATCH): Add AC_LANG_SOURCE into
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 873c3c92..a413b750 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ dnl Checks for library functions.
 dnl
 AC_FUNC_MMAP
 AC_FUNC_FSEEKO
-AC_CHECK_FUNCS(strptime timegm vsnprintf vasprintf drand48)
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS(strptime timegm vsnprintf vasprintf drand48 pathconf)
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(strtoll usleep ftello sigblock sigsetjmp memrchr wcwidth mbtowc)
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(sleep symlink utime)
 
diff --git a/src/ChangeLog b/src/ChangeLog
index 6fd091c2..13f75296 100644
--- a/src/ChangeLog
+++ b/src/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2012-10-07  Tim Ruehsen  <tim.ruehsen@gmx.de>
+	    Giuseppe Scrivano  <gscrivano@gnu.org>
+
+	* utils.c (get_max_length): If `pathconf' is not available
+	fallback to PATH_MAX.
+
 2012-10-06  Giuseppe Scrivano  <gscrivano@gnu.org>
 
 	* http.c (http_loop): Send a HEAD request when -c and
diff --git a/src/utils.c b/src/utils.c
index 729ec50d..faae62e1 100644
--- a/src/utils.c
+++ b/src/utils.c
@@ -2509,9 +2509,13 @@ get_max_length (const char *path, int length, int name)
     {
       errno = 0;
       /* For an empty path query the current directory. */
+#if HAVE_PATHCONF
       ret = pathconf (*p ? p : ".", name);
       if (!(ret < 0 && errno == ENOENT))
         break;
+#else
+      ret = PATH_MAX;
+#endif
 
       /* The path does not exist yet, but may be created. */
       /* Already at current or root directory, give up. */