diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 8a38b2837e..db8698d362 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ Changes in 2.0.2-alpha:
  o Allow specifying the output filename for rpcgen; based on work by jmansion; patch from Zack Weinberg.
  o Allow C identifiers as struct names; allow multiple comments in .rpc files; from Zack Weinberg
  o Mitigate a race condition when using socket bufferevents in multiple threads.
+ o Use AC_SEARCH_LIBS, not AC_CHECK_LIB to avoid needless library use.
 
 
 Changes in 2.0.1-alpha:
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 6b954eb89d..3717cd88b9 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -45,22 +45,24 @@ dnl AC_DISABLE_SHARED
 AC_SUBST(LIBTOOL_DEPS)
 
 dnl Checks for libraries.
-AC_CHECK_LIB(socket, socket, [AC_SUBST( [LIBSOCKET], ["-lsocket"] )] )
-AC_CHECK_LIB(resolv, inet_aton, [AC_SUBST( [LIBRESOLV], ["-lresolv"] )]  )
-AC_CHECK_LIB(rt, clock_gettime, [AC_SUBST( [LIBRT], ["-lrt"] )] )
-AC_CHECK_LIB(nsl, inet_ntoa, [AC_SUBST( [LIBNSL], ["-lnsl"] )] )
+AC_SEARCH_LIBS([inet_ntoa], [nsl])
+AC_SEARCH_LIBS([socket], [socket])
+AC_SEARCH_LIBS([inet_aton], [resolv])
+AC_SEARCH_LIBS([clock_gettime], [rt])
 
 dnl Determine if we have zlib for regression tests
+dnl Don't put this one in LIBS
+save_LIBS="$LIBS"
+LIBS=""
 ZLIB_LIBS=""
-ZLIB_CFLAGS=""
-AC_CHECK_LIB(z, inflateEnd,
+have_zlib=no
+AC_SEARCH_LIBS([inflateEnd], [z],
 	[have_zlib=yes
-	ZLIB_LIBS="-lz" 
-	AC_DEFINE(HAVE_LIBZ, 1, [Define if the system has zlib])],
-	[have_zlib=no])
+	ZLIB_LIBS="$LIBS"
+	AC_DEFINE(HAVE_LIBZ, 1, [Define if the system has zlib])])
+LIBS="$save_LIBS"
 AC_SUBST(ZLIB_LIBS)
-AC_SUBST(ZLIB_CFLAGS)
-AM_CONDITIONAL(ZLIB_REGRESS, [test "$have_zlib" != "no"])
+AM_CONDITIONAL(ZLIB_REGRESS, [test "$have_zlib" = "yes"])
 
 dnl Checks for header files.
 AC_HEADER_STDC
diff --git a/libevent.pc.in b/libevent.pc.in
index 79c38b1912..7030884eeb 100644
--- a/libevent.pc.in
+++ b/libevent.pc.in
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Description: libevent is an asynchronous notification event loop library
 Version: @VERSION@
 Requires:
 Conflicts:
-Libs: -L${libdir} -levent @LIBSOCKET@ @LIBRESOLV@ @LIBRT@ @LIBNSL@ @ZLIB_LIBS@
+Libs: -L${libdir} -levent
+Libs.private: @LIBS@
 Cflags: -I${includedir}