diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 79c924e6ab..b9228b7a83 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -388,6 +388,11 @@ if [ "$1" = "--help" ] || [ "$1" = "-h" ]; then
 	usage; exit 0;
 fi
 
+# ensure umask is not too restrictive
+if [ $(umask) -gt 22 ]; then
+	echo "Your umask is too restrictive (should be: <= 0022; is actually:" $(umask)")"
+	exit 1
+fi
 
 # get cwd and the source directory
 currentDir=`pwd`