diff --git a/README.alpha b/README.alpha
index 35b855a..18bf349 100644
--- a/README.alpha
+++ b/README.alpha
@@ -33,16 +33,16 @@ Compiling
 At the moment, certain modules in EDE do not compile! In order to build and install
 EDE do the following:
 
-1. (old method, soon will be removed)
-	autoconf
+1. run ./prepare
+
+2. (old method, soon will be removed)
 	./configure [OPTIONS] (we suggest using --enable-debug)
 	cd edelib2; make; cd ..
 
   Then go into directories of individual modules and compile them. Type
 	cd $MODULE; make; make install; cd ..
 
-2. (new method, default)
-	autoconf
+3. (new method, default)
 	./configure [OPTIONS] (we suggest using --enable-debug)
 	jam
 
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 33cfe09..28a158f 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ AC_PROG_CXX
 AC_PROG_CPP
 AC_PATH_PROG(MSGFMT, msgfmt)
 AC_PATH_PROG(XGETTEXT, xgettext)
+AC_PATH_PROG(DOXYGEN, doxygen)
 EDE_PROG_JAM()
 
 dnl basic headers
@@ -47,6 +48,11 @@ AC_CHECK_HEADER(ndir.h, AC_DEFINE(HAVE_NDIR_H, 1, [Define to 1 if you have ndir.
 AC_CHECK_HEADER(sys/dir.h, AC_DEFINE(HAVE_SYS_DIR_H, 1, [Define to 1 if you have sys/dir.h]))
 AC_CHECK_HEADER(sys/ndir.h, AC_DEFINE(HAVE_SYS_NDIR_H, 1, [Define to 1 if you have sys/ndir.h]))
 
+dnl TODO: it would be nice if we could pass parameter
+dnl for custom STL implementation (via STDLIB var), and
+dnl test be linked against it
+EDE_CHECK_STL()
+
 EDE_CHECK_TIME_FUNCS()
 
 EDE_CHECK_X11()
diff --git a/m4/time.m4 b/m4/time.m4
index af35036..abd706b 100644
--- a/m4/time.m4
+++ b/m4/time.m4
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ dnl See COPYING for details.
 dnl Check for time functions since they are
 dnl different between systems
 AC_DEFUN([EDE_CHECK_TIME_FUNCS], [
-
 	dnl glibc extension, not present on BSD's
 	AC_CHECK_HEADER(time.h, [
 		AC_CHECK_FUNCS(stime, AC_DEFINE(HAVE_STIME, 1, [Define to 1 if you have stime() in time.h]))
diff --git a/m4/various.m4 b/m4/various.m4
index 32b81a4..9e92d70 100644
--- a/m4/various.m4
+++ b/m4/various.m4
@@ -28,3 +28,25 @@ AC_DEFUN([EDE_DEVELOPMENT], [
 		DEBUGFLAGS="$DEBUGFLAGS -pedantic"
 	fi
 ])
+
+dnl Some distributions split packages between STL runtime
+dnl and development versions; this will ensure we have development packages
+dnl Code is based on AC_CXX_HAVE_STL from Todd Veldhuizen and Luc Maisonobe
+AC_DEFUN([EDE_CHECK_STL], [
+	AC_MSG_CHECKING(for reasonable STL support)
+	AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
+	AC_TRY_COMPILE([
+		#include <list>
+		#include <deque>
+		using namespace std;
+	],[
+		list<int> x; x.push_back(5);
+		list<int>::iterator iter = x.begin(); if (iter != x.end()) ++iter; return 0;
+	], ac_cv_cxx_have_stl=yes, ac_cv_cxx_have_stl=no)
+
+	if eval "test $ac_cv_cxx_have_stl = no"; then
+		AC_MSG_ERROR(You don't have STL (C++ standard library) packages installed, or your version of compiler is too old. Please fix this first)
+	else
+		AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
+	fi
+])