diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 426d3b674..28be50575 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -171,7 +171,16 @@ PKG_CHECK_MODULES([SQLITE3], [sqlite3 >= 3.6.19], [CXXFLAGS="$SQLITE3_CFLAGS $CX
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES([LIBCURL], [libcurl], [CXXFLAGS="$LIBCURL_CFLAGS $CXXFLAGS"])
 
 # Look for editline, a required dependency.
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES([EDITLINE], [libeditline], [CXXFLAGS="$EDITLINE_CFLAGS $CXXFLAGS"])
+# The the libeditline.pc file was added only in libeditline >= 1.15.2,
+# see https://github.com/troglobit/editline/commit/0a8f2ef4203c3a4a4726b9dd1336869cd0da8607,
+# but e.g. Ubuntu 16.04 has an older version, so we fall back to searching for
+# editline.h when the pkg-config approach fails.
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES([EDITLINE], [libeditline], [CXXFLAGS="$EDITLINE_CFLAGS $CXXFLAGS"], [
+  AC_CHECK_HEADERS([editline.h], [true],
+    [AC_MSG_ERROR([Nix requires libeditline; it was found neither via pkg-config nor its normal header.])])
+  AC_SEARCH_LIBS([readline read_history], [editline], [],
+    [AC_MSG_ERROR([Nix requires libeditline; it was not found via pkg-config, but via its header, but required functions do not work. Maybe it is too old? >= 1.14 is required.])])
+])
 
 # Look for libsodium, an optional dependency.
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES([SODIUM], [libsodium],
diff --git a/doc/manual/installation/prerequisites-source.xml b/doc/manual/installation/prerequisites-source.xml
index e87d0de21..cbaa4d525 100644
--- a/doc/manual/installation/prerequisites-source.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/installation/prerequisites-source.xml
@@ -62,6 +62,10 @@
   1.66.0 or higher. It can be obtained from the official web site
   <link xlink:href="https://www.boost.org/" />.</para></listitem>
 
+  <listitem><para>The <literal>editline</literal> library of version
+  1.14.0 or higher. It can be obtained from the its repository
+  <link xlink:href="https://github.com/troglobit/editline" />.</para></listitem>
+
   <listitem><para>The <command>xmllint</command> and
   <command>xsltproc</command> programs to build this manual and the
   man-pages.  These are part of the <literal>libxml2</literal> and