diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 234e75b..4061cb7 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -903,7 +903,7 @@
 echo "  --disable-docs           disable documentation build"
 echo "  --disable-vhost-net      disable vhost-net acceleration support"
 echo "  --enable-vhost-net       enable vhost-net acceleration support"
-echo "  --trace-backend=B        Trace backend nop simple"
+echo "  --trace-backend=B        Trace backend nop simple ust"
 echo "  --trace-file=NAME        Full PATH,NAME of file to store traces"
 echo "                           Default:trace-<pid>"
 echo ""
@@ -2080,6 +2080,24 @@
   exit 1
 fi
 
+##########################################
+# For 'ust' backend, test if ust headers are present
+if test "$trace_backend" = "ust"; then
+  cat > $TMPC << EOF
+#include <ust/tracepoint.h>
+#include <ust/marker.h>
+int main(void) { return 0; }
+EOF
+  if compile_prog "" "" ; then
+    LIBS="-lust $LIBS"
+  else
+    echo
+    echo "Error: Trace backend 'ust' missing libust header files"
+    echo
+    exit 1
+  fi
+fi
+##########################################
 # End of CC checks
 # After here, no more $cc or $ld runs