diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 0565a52..38caec3 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -6,11 +6,20 @@ AM_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h)
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
 
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST
+host_osx=no
+host_linux=no
+native_windows=no
 case $host in
   *mingw*)
+    native_windows=yes
+    ;;
+  *linux*)
+    host_linux=yes
+    ;;
+  *darwin*)
+    host_osx=yes
     ;;
   *)
-    native_windows=no
     ;;
 esac
 
@@ -20,9 +29,24 @@ AC_PROG_INSTALL
 AC_PROG_MAKE_SET
 
 dnl Checks for libraries.
-dnl Replace `main' with a function in -lncurses:
+FOUND_NCURSESW=no
+AC_CHECK_LIB(ncursesew, waddnwstr, FOUND_NCURSESW=yes)
 AC_CHECK_LIB(ncurses, main)
 
+dnl wide character support for ncurses is found in seperate library ncursesw in
+dnl some linux distributions like ubuntu, warn if it is not present in that case
+if test x$FOUND_NCURSESW = xno; then
+    if test x$host_linux = xyes; then
+        AC_MSG_WARN([
+
+*** ncurses with wide character support is packaged as a seperate library (ncursesw)
+*** on some linux distributions such as ubunutu. If you face compilation errors,
+*** please install the library.
+
+])
+    fi
+fi
+
 dnl Checks for header files.
 AC_HEADER_STDC
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(fcntl.h sys/ioctl.h unistd.h termios.h termio.h getopt.h)
@@ -35,7 +59,7 @@ dnl Checks for libraries.
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(curses.h ncurses.h)
 
 CURSES_LIB_NAME=""
-AC_CHECK_LIB(ncurses, tgetent, CURSES_LIB="-lncurses" CURSES_LIB_NAME=ncurses)
+AC_CHECK_LIB(ncurses, tgetent, CURSES_LIB="-lncursesw" CURSES_LIB=ncursesw)
 
 if eval "test x$CURSES_LIB_NAME = x"
 then
@@ -83,6 +107,11 @@ if test x$native_windows != xno; then
   CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -static"
 fi
 
+dnl Add -D_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED to enable wide char support in Mac OS
+if test x$host_osx != xno; then
+  CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -D_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED"
+fi
+
 dnl cmatrix terminal font disable option (default enabled)
 AC_ARG_WITH([fonts],
 	AS_HELP_STRING([--without-fonts], [Install cmatrix without cmatrix font]),