diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 7aa257f..b9677a8 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -16,6 +16,17 @@ AM_SILENT_RULES
 
 AC_PROG_MKDIR_P
 
+# The Fedora Docker image doesn't come with the 'findutils' package.
+# 'find' is required for 'make distcheck', which the user might not
+# run. We could log a warning instead of erroring out, but:
+#   * a warning is unlikely to be seen,
+#   * 'make distcheck' doesn't yield a non-0 exit code if 'find' is
+#     not available,
+#   * 'find' is a core utility that should always be available, and
+#   * we might use 'find' for other purposes in the future.
+AC_PATH_PROG([FIND], [find])
+AS_IF([test -z "${FIND}"], [AC_MSG_ERROR(['find' utility not found])])
+
 AX_WITH_PROG([PERL], perl)
 AX_PROG_PERL_VERSION([5.10.1], [],
   [AC_MSG_ERROR([Perl 5.10.1 or newer not found])])