diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 94f9529d..380e7b16 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -848,6 +848,9 @@ AC_ARG_WITH([heif],
   AS_HELP_STRING([--without-heif], [build without libheif (default: test)]))
 
 if test x"$with_heif" != x"no"; then
+  echo trying to detect libheif
+  pkg-config --exists --print-errors "libheif >= 1.3.0"
+
   PKG_CHECK_MODULES(HEIF, libheif >= 1.3.0,
     [with_heif=yes
      have_h265_decoder=`$PKG_CONFIG libheif --variable builtin_h265_decoder`