diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 9e91c3d0b9..9808a5076b 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2003-01-30  Kayvan A. Sylvan  <kayvan@sylvan.com>
+
+	* Makefile.am: test for the presence of rpmbuild.
+
 2003-01-27  Angus Leeming  <leeming@lyx.org>
 
 	* UPGRADING: further cleanup following some advice from Dekel.
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index c345445fd3..86104b9d27 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -29,7 +29,12 @@ dist-hook:
 
 rpmdist: dist
 	ln -s lib/images/lyx.xpm . ; \
-	rpmbuild -ta $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION).tar.gz ; saved_status=$$?; \
+	if [ -z "`type -path rpmbuild`" ]; \
+	then \
+		RPMBUILD=rpm; \
+	else \
+		RPMBUILD=rpmbuild; \
+	fi; $$RPMBUILD -ta $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION).tar.gz ; saved_status=$$?; \
 	rm lyx.xpm; exit $$saved_status
 
 bindist: