diff --git a/desmume/configure.ac b/desmume/configure.ac
index 40b35b4c4..412dcc398 100644
--- a/desmume/configure.ac
+++ b/desmume/configure.ac
@@ -1,81 +1,114 @@
-AC_INIT(desmume, 0.3.3)
+dnl --- Package name is first argument to AC_INIT
+dnl --- Release version is second argument to AC_INIT
 
-AC_CANONICAL_HOST
+AC_INIT(desmume, [0.3.3])
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
+
+dnl -- find target architecture for some os specific libraries
 AC_CANONICAL_TARGET
-
 case $target in
-	*linux*) desmume_arch=linux;;
-	*mingw*) desmume_arch=windows;;
-	*darwin*) desmume_arch=linux;;
+  *linux*) desmume_arch=linux;;
+  *mingw*) desmume_arch=windows;;
+  *darwin*) desmume_arch=linux;;
 esac
 AC_SUBST(desmume_arch)
 
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(desmume, 0.3.3)
-
-AC_PROG_CC
+dnl -- make sure we have a C++ compiler
 AC_PROG_CXX
-AC_PROG_INSTALL
+
+dnl -- use ranlib for libraries
 AC_PROG_RANLIB
 
-AC_LANG(C++)
-
+dnl -- check for endianess
 AC_C_BIGENDIAN
 
+dnl --- Other prerequisites ---
+
+dnl - Check for zlib
 AC_CHECK_LIB(z, gzopen)
-AC_PATH_PROGS(HAVE_LIBSDL, [sdl-config sdl11-config])
+
+dnl - Check for SDL
+AC_PATH_PROGS(SDLCONFIG, [sdl-config sdl11-config])
+if test ! "x$SDLCONFIG" = "x" ; then
+  SDL_CFLAGS=`$SDLCONFIG --cflags`
+  SDL_LIBS=`$SDLCONFIG --libs`
+  AC_SUBST(SDL_CFLAGS)
+  AC_SUBST(SDL_LIBS)
+  HAVE_SDL="yes"
+else
+  HAVE_SDL="no"
+fi
+
+dnl - Check for GTK
+AC_CHECK_TOOL(HAVE_PKG, pkg-config)
+if test ! "x$HAVE_PKG" = "x" ; then
+  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTK,
+                    "gtk+-2.0",
+                    HAVE_GTK=yes,
+                    HAVE_GTK=no)
+  AC_SUBST(GTK_CFLAGS)
+  AC_SUBST(GTK_LIBS)
+fi
+
+dnl - Determine which UI's to build
+if test "x$HAVE_SDL" = "xyes"; then
+  # SDL adds just a cli
+  UI_DIR="cli $UI_DIR"
+  if test "x$HAVE_GTK" = "xyes"; then
+    # GTK requires SDL
+    UI_DIR="gtk $UI_DIR"
+  fi
+fi
 
 case $target in
-	*darwin*)
-		if test x$HAVE_LIBSDL = x ; then
-        		AC_MSG_ERROR([You need to install SDL])
-		else
-		        SDL_CFLAGS=`$HAVE_LIBSDL --cflags`
-		        SDL_LIBS=`$HAVE_LIBSDL --libs`
-		fi
-		AC_SUBST(SDL_CFLAGS)
-		AC_SUBST(SDL_LIBS)
-
-		UI_DIR="cli"
-		AC_SUBST([UI_DIR])
-		;;
-	*linux*)
-		AC_CHECK_TOOL(HAVE_PKG, pkg-config)
-
-		if test ! x$HAVE_PKG = x ; then
-			GTK_CFLAGS=`$HAVE_PKG gtk+-2.0 --cflags`
-			GTK_LIBS=`$HAVE_PKG gtk+-2.0 --libs`
-		fi
-
-		if test x$HAVE_LIBSDL = x ; then
-        		AC_MSG_ERROR([You need to install SDL])
-		else
-		        SDL_CFLAGS=`$HAVE_LIBSDL --cflags`
-		        SDL_LIBS=`$HAVE_LIBSDL --libs`
-			GTK_CFLAGS="$GTK_CFLAGS $SDL_CFLAGS"
-			GTK_LIBS="$GTK_LIBS $SDL_LIBS"
-		fi
-		AC_SUBST(SDL_CFLAGS)
-		AC_SUBST(SDL_LIBS)
-		AC_SUBST(GTK_CFLAGS)
-		AC_SUBST(GTK_LIBS)
-
-		UI_DIR="gtk cli"
-		AC_SUBST([UI_DIR])
-		;;
-	*mingw*)
-                LIBS="$LIBS -ldxguid -ldxerr8 -ldsound -mwindows"
-		UI_DIR=windows
-		AC_SUBST([UI_DIR])
-		;;
+  *mingw*)
+    LIBS="$LIBS -ldxguid -ldxerr8 -ldsound -mwindows"
+    UI_DIR="windows"
+    ;;
 esac
 
-AC_ARG_ENABLE(debug, AC_HELP_STRING(--enable-debug, enable debug information),
-	AC_DEFINE(DEBUG))
+AC_SUBST(UI_DIR)
 
+
+dnl - Compiler warnings
+
+# for developer use, enable lots of compile warnings,
+# but don't require this generally, because some system's
+# header files (BSD) can't handle it
+#
+# NB: must add -Werror after AC_PROG_CC, etc., so do this last
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(hardcore,
+              [  --enable-hardcore      turn on -W -Wall -Werror],
+              [case "${enableval}" in
+                yes) ENABLE_HARDCORE=1 ;;
+                no) ENABLE_HARDCORE=0 ;;
+                *) AC_MSG_ERROR(bad value ${enableval} for --enable-hardcore) ;;              esac],
+              [ENABLE_HARDCORE=0])
+
+if test "x[$]ENABLE_HARDCORE" = "x1"; then
+  AC_MSG_WARN(enable hardcore compile warnings)
+  if test "x$CXX" = "x"; then
+    dnl - only valid for C with newer gcc's
+    CPPFLAGS="[$]CPPFLAGS -Wmissing-prototypes"
+  fi
+  CPPFLAGS="[$]CPPFLAGS -Werror -W -Wall -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Wwrite-strings"
+fi
+
+dnl - Enable debug mode
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(debug,
+              AC_HELP_STRING(--enable-debug, enable debug information),
+              AC_DEFINE(DEBUG))
+
+dnl -- set maintainer mode
+AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
+AC_SUBST(USE_MAINTAINER_MODE)
+
+
+dnl --- Finally, output all the makefiles
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile
-	src/Makefile
-	src/cli/Makefile
-	src/gtk/Makefile
-	src/windows/Makefile
+                 src/Makefile
+                 src/cli/Makefile
+                 src/gtk/Makefile
+                 src/windows/Makefile
 ])
 AC_OUTPUT
diff --git a/desmume/src/gtk/Makefile.am b/desmume/src/gtk/Makefile.am
index 696967526..8e06efaa7 100644
--- a/desmume/src/gtk/Makefile.am
+++ b/desmume/src/gtk/Makefile.am
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 bin_PROGRAMS = desmume
 desmume_SOURCES = main.c desmume.c dToolsList.c tools/ioregsView.c ../sndsdl.c
-desmume_LDADD = ../libdesmume.a $(GTK_LIBS)
-desmume_CFLAGS = $(GTK_CFLAGS)
+desmume_LDADD = ../libdesmume.a $(SDL_LIBS) $(GTK_LIBS)
+desmume_CFLAGS = $(SDL_CFLAGS) $(GTK_CFLAGS)