diff --git a/m4/ipopt.m4 b/m4/ipopt.m4
index d93c86ab5d8fed2f70797c82fdbff61204e38d4f..2829d00f22aa7ae35b2a3bf72530e2bf9b12635f 100644
--- a/m4/ipopt.m4
+++ b/m4/ipopt.m4
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 AC_DEFUN([DUNE_IPOPT],[
   AC_REQUIRE([AC_PROG_CXX])
+  AC_CHECK_HEADERS(cstddef stddef.h)
 
   AC_ARG_WITH(ipopt,
     AC_HELP_STRING([--with-ipopt=PATH],[directory with IPOpt inside]))