--- configure	2015-04-21 10:37:04.000000000 +1000
+++ configure.new	2015-04-21 12:47:46.340709492 +1000
@@ -326,12 +326,13 @@
 
 
 def pkg_config(pkg):
-  cmd = os.popen('pkg-config --libs %s' % pkg, 'r')
+  pkg_config = os.environ.get('PKG_CONFIG', 'pkg-config')
+  cmd = os.popen(pkg_config + ' --libs %s' % pkg, 'r')
   libs = cmd.readline().strip()
   ret = cmd.close()
   if (ret): return None
 
-  cmd = os.popen('pkg-config --cflags %s' % pkg, 'r')
+  cmd = os.popen(pkg_config + ' --cflags %s' % pkg, 'r')
   cflags = cmd.readline().strip()
   ret = cmd.close()
   if (ret): return None
@@ -657,13 +658,18 @@
 
 def configure_libz(o):
   o['variables']['node_shared_zlib'] = b(options.shared_zlib)
+  (libs, cflags) = pkg_config('zlib') or ('-lz', '')
 
-  if options.shared_zlib:
-    o['libraries'] += ['-l%s' % options.shared_zlib_libname]
   if options.shared_zlib_libpath:
     o['libraries'] += ['-L%s' % options.shared_zlib_libpath]
   if options.shared_zlib_includes:
     o['include_dirs'] += [options.shared_zlib_includes]
+  else:
+    o['cflags'] += cflags.split()
+  if options.shared_zlib_libname:
+    o['libraries'] += ['-l%s' % options.shared_zlib_libname]
+  else:
+    o['libraries'] += libs.split()
 
 
 def configure_http_parser(o):