commit - 8671caea20ee6eb43a2b4005a0429cddf9266d4a
commit + 7eaf997f527107beac3379da6b814ac7b783ebc0
blob - 5efad90e9ec8a5e4ddd9ca4ba66d2491dfa1f060
blob + ea03666a0ed569fc992b5d10526381f43a9bf5bf
--- README.md
+++ README.md
@@ -83,6 +83,12 @@ To build from a release tarball just execute:
 	make
 	sudo make install
 
+The configure script has optional support for building with libraries
+provided by your distribution instead of internal compatibility funcs:
+
+ - `--with-libimsg`: link with the
+   [imsg-compat](https://github.com/bsd-ac/imsg-compat) library
+
 If you want to build from the git checkout, something that's
 discouraged for users that don't intend to hack on telescope
 
blob - b8f98cb5c6e5fe7790cea23b8d7520b9b71db12e
blob + 50a4c8463e720db999afd8a7439dadf1d102a913
--- compat.h
+++ compat.h
@@ -45,12 +45,16 @@
 # include "compat/queue.h"
 #endif
 
-#ifdef HAVE_LIBUTIL
+#ifdef HAVE_IMSG
 # include <imsg.h>
+#else
+# include "compat/imsg.h"
+#endif
+
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBUTIL
 # include <ohash.h>
 # include <util.h>
 #else
-# include "compat/imsg.h"
 # include "compat/ohash.h"
 # define FMT_SCALED_STRSIZE      7       /* minus sign, 4 digits, suffix, null byte */
 int		 fmt_scaled(long long, char *);
blob - 734736d5102fb46b8da50d9ada97a803119cf7aa
blob + dd2c97f2053529099aeed212f71d8b28769559db
--- configure.ac
+++ configure.ac
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ AC_PROG_YACC
 
 PKG_PROG_PKG_CONFIG
 
+AC_ARG_WITH([libimsg],
+	AS_HELP_STRING([--with-libimsg],
+		[Build with imsg-compat library (default: disabled)]))
+
 AC_REPLACE_FUNCS([
 	asprintf \
 	err \
@@ -74,9 +78,23 @@ case "$host_os" in
 		;;
 esac
 
-AC_CHECK_LIB(util, imsg_init, [], [
-	AC_LIBOBJ(imsg)
-	AC_LIBOBJ(imsg-buffer)
+AS_IF([test "x$with_libimsg" = "xyes"], [
+	PKG_CHECK_MODULES([libimsg], [libimsg], [
+		CFLAGS="$libimsg_CFLAGS $CFLAGS"
+		LIBS="$libimsg_LIBS $LIBS"
+	])
+])
+
+AC_SEARCH_LIBS([imsg_init], [util], [
+		AC_DEFINE([HAVE_IMSG], 1,
+			[Define to 1 if you have imsg functions (-lutil or -limsg).])
+	], [
+		AC_LIBOBJ(imsg)
+		AC_LIBOBJ(imsg-buffer)
+	]
+)
+
+AC_CHECK_LIB(util, ohash_init, [], [
 	AC_LIBOBJ(ohash)
 	AC_LIBOBJ(fmt_scaled)
 ])