diff --git a/lib/chkconfig.ltx b/lib/chkconfig.ltx
index dbe99648df..bf0d410fd5 100644
--- a/lib/chkconfig.ltx
+++ b/lib/chkconfig.ltx
@@ -120,12 +120,22 @@
     #6
   \fi}
 
+
+% For the version test below, we need to load the tested package.
+% However, we are only interested in the version information, so
+% we redefine an internal method of \ProvidesPackage to quit
+% as soon as we have that information 
+\let\chk@pr@videpackage\@pr@videpackage
+\def\@pr@videpackage[#1]{\chk@pr@videpackage[#1]\endinput}
+
 % Tests whether an package is present and also adds the version to the package list
 \newcommand{\TestPackageAddVersion}[2][\default]{
    \def\default{#2}
    \def\package@version{}
-   % The actual test only works after the package has been loaded
    \IfFileExists{#1.sty}{%
+      % The actual test only works after the package has been loaded,
+      % but with the redefinition of \@pr@videpackage above, we quit
+      % as early as possible
       \RequirePackage{#1}%
       \protected@edef\package@@version{\csname ver@#1.sty\endcsname}%
       \protected@edef\package@version{\expandafter\@parse@version\package@@version//00\@nil}%
diff --git a/status.24x b/status.24x
index 0ad2ec7048..e206b09a08 100644
--- a/status.24x
+++ b/status.24x
@@ -108,3 +108,7 @@ What's new
 
 - Fix (only informal) check for hyphenation patterns in (re)configuration.
 
+- Improve check for package versions in (re)configuration. Particularly,
+  configuration does not break any longer if a sub-dependency of a 
+  tested package is missing (bug 13112),
+