diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0cb194cbb7e6..e688fc65c2c0 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ endif
 ifeq (,$(findstring systemd,$(BUILDTAGS)))
 $(warning \
 	Podman is being compiled without the systemd build tag.\
-	Install libsystemd for journald support)
+	Install libsystemd on Ubuntu or systemd-devel on rpm based distro for journald support)
 endif
 
 BUILDTAGS_CROSS ?= containers_image_openpgp exclude_graphdriver_btrfs exclude_graphdriver_devicemapper exclude_graphdriver_overlay
diff --git a/contrib/build_rpm.sh b/contrib/build_rpm.sh
index e41763fa74d8..088d8b7a5e65 100755
--- a/contrib/build_rpm.sh
+++ b/contrib/build_rpm.sh
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ declare -a PKGS=(device-mapper-devel \
                 make \
                 rpm-build \
                 go-compilers-golang-compiler \
+                systemd-devel \
                 )
 
 if [[ $pkg_manager == *dnf ]]; then
diff --git a/hack/systemd_tag.sh b/hack/systemd_tag.sh
index c59cad559fcb..19a7bf6a6483 100755
--- a/hack/systemd_tag.sh
+++ b/hack/systemd_tag.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-if pkg-config --exists libsystemd; then
-    echo systemd
+cc -E - > /dev/null 2> /dev/null << EOF
+#include <systemd/sd-daemon.h>
+EOF
+if test $? -eq 0 ; then
+	echo systemd
 fi