diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index fa70024d82..04468ae8f5 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -673,7 +673,7 @@ AC_SEARCH_LIBS(inet_aton, resolv)
 dnl HP-UX atomic routines are in atomic library, not standard C library.
 dnl If we can't find atomic routines in vendor library, look for atomic_ops.
 AC_SEARCH_LIBS(atomic_inc, atomic,,
-	AC_SEARCH_LIBS(main, atomic_ops))
+	AC_CHECK_LIB(atomic_ops, main))
 
 
 dnl Check for libraries for static C++ runtime linking