diff --git a/configuration/configure.ac b/configuration/configure.ac
index 9bacfc0..2c0047c 100755
--- a/configuration/configure.ac
+++ b/configuration/configure.ac
@@ -154,7 +154,8 @@
 			  [AC_SUBST([XSLTPROC],
 			  ["${JAVA} -jar ${SAXON_JAR}"])
 		AC_MSG_RESULT([$XSLTPROC])],
-		[AC_MSG_RESULT([no])])],
+		[	AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
+			AC_MSG_ERROR([could not find Saxon-B])])],
 	[AC_MSG_ERROR([unknown XSLT processor "${XSLT}" specified])])
 
 AC_PATH_JARFILE(resolver, RESOLVER, [/opt/local/share/java /sw/share/java /usr/local/share/java /usr/share/java /opt/local/lib/java /sw/lib/java /usr/local/lib/java /usr/lib/java ${HOME}/Library/Java /Library/Java /System/Library/Java])
@@ -165,7 +166,8 @@
 AS_IF([$RESOLVER_AVAILABLE],
 	[	AC_SUBST([RESOLVER], ["${JAVA} -cp ${RESOLVER_JAR}:${CLASSPATH} org.apache.xml.resolver.apps.resolver"])
 		AC_MSG_RESULT([$RESOLVER])],
-	[AC_MSG_RESULT([no])])
+	[	AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
+		AC_MSG_ERROR([could not find the XML entity resolver])])
 
 
 dnl