diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index adcd1c0dd5..9ca2f19bf9 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -171,6 +171,24 @@ if test "x$CXXFLAGS_overridden" = "xno"; then
 fi
 CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -DBOOST_SPIRIT_THREADSAFE -DHAVE_BUILD_INFO -D__STDC_FORMAT_MACROS"
 
+AC_ARG_WITH([utils],
+  [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-utils],
+  [build bitcoin-cli bitcoin-tx (default=yes)])],
+  [build_bitcoin_utils=$withval],
+  [build_bitcoin_utils=yes])
+
+AC_ARG_WITH([libs],
+  [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-libs],
+  [build libraries (default=yes)])],
+  [build_bitcoin_libs=$withval],
+  [build_bitcoin_libs=yes])
+
+AC_ARG_WITH([daemon],
+  [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-daemon],
+  [build bitcoind daemon (default=yes)])],
+  [build_bitcoind=$withval],
+  [build_bitcoind=yes])
+
 AC_LANG_PUSH([C++])
 
 use_pkgconfig=yes
@@ -500,6 +518,19 @@ if test x$use_upnp != xno; then
   )
 fi
 
+BITCOIN_QT_INIT
+
+dnl sets $bitcoin_enable_qt, $bitcoin_enable_qt_test, $bitcoin_enable_qt_dbus
+BITCOIN_QT_CONFIGURE([$use_pkgconfig], [qt4])
+
+if test x$build_bitcoin_utils$build_bitcoind$bitcoin_enable_qt$use_tests = xnononono; then
+    use_boost=no
+else
+    use_boost=yes
+fi
+
+if test x$use_boost = xyes; then
+
 dnl Check for boost libs
 AX_BOOST_BASE
 AX_BOOST_SYSTEM
@@ -537,6 +568,10 @@ if test x$use_reduce_exports != xno; then
   CPPFLAGS="$TEMP_CPPFLAGS"
 fi
 
+elif test x$use_reduce_exports = xauto; then
+    use_reduce_exports=yes
+fi
+
 if test x$use_reduce_exports != xno; then
     CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS $RE_CXXFLAGS"
     AX_CHECK_LINK_FLAG([[-Wl,--exclude-libs,ALL]], [RELDFLAGS="-Wl,--exclude-libs,ALL"])
@@ -549,6 +584,8 @@ if test x$use_tests = xyes; then
   fi
 
 
+  if test x$use_boost = xyes; then
+
   AX_BOOST_UNIT_TEST_FRAMEWORK
 
   dnl Determine if -DBOOST_TEST_DYN_LINK is needed
@@ -568,8 +605,12 @@ if test x$use_tests = xyes; then
     [AC_MSG_RESULT(no)])
   LIBS="$TEMP_LIBS"
   CPPFLAGS="$TEMP_CPPFLAGS"
+
+  fi
 fi
 
+if test x$use_boost = xyes; then
+
 BOOST_LIBS="$BOOST_LDFLAGS $BOOST_SYSTEM_LIB $BOOST_FILESYSTEM_LIB $BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_LIB $BOOST_THREAD_LIB"
 
 dnl Boost >= 1.50 uses sleep_for rather than the now-deprecated sleep, however
@@ -626,25 +667,7 @@ if test x$boost_sleep != xyes; then
   AC_MSG_ERROR(No working boost sleep implementation found.)
 fi
 
-AC_ARG_WITH([utils],
-  [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-utils],
-  [build bitcoin-cli bitcoin-tx (default=yes)])],
-  [build_bitcoin_utils=$withval],
-  [build_bitcoin_utils=yes])
-
-AC_ARG_WITH([libs],
-  [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-libs],
-  [build libraries (default=yes)])],
-  [build_bitcoin_libs=$withval],
-  [build_bitcoin_libs=yes])
-
-AC_ARG_WITH([daemon],
-  [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-daemon],
-  [build bitcoind daemon (default=yes)])],
-  [build_bitcoind=$withval],
-  [build_bitcoind=yes])
-
-BITCOIN_QT_INIT
+fi
 
 if test x$use_pkgconfig = xyes; then
 
@@ -678,6 +701,14 @@ else
   fi
 fi
 
+CFLAGS_TEMP="$CFLAGS"
+LIBS_TEMP="$LIBS"
+CFLAGS="$CFLAGS $SSL_CFLAGS $CRYPTO_CFLAGS"
+LIBS="$LIBS $SSL_LIBS $CRYPTO_LIBS"
+AC_CHECK_HEADER([openssl/ec.h],, AC_MSG_ERROR(OpenSSL ec header missing),)
+CFLAGS="$CFLAGS_TEMP"
+LIBS="$LIBS_TEMP"
+
 BITCOIN_QT_PATH_PROGS([PROTOC], [protoc],$protoc_bin_path)
 
 AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether to build bitcoind])
@@ -696,9 +727,6 @@ if test x$build_bitcoin_libs = xyes; then
 fi
 AC_MSG_RESULT($build_bitcoin_libs)
 
-dnl sets $bitcoin_enable_qt, $bitcoin_enable_qt_test, $bitcoin_enable_qt_dbus
-BITCOIN_QT_CONFIGURE([$use_pkgconfig], [qt4])
-
 AC_LANG_POP
 
 if test "x$use_ccache" != "xno"; then
@@ -812,7 +840,7 @@ else
   AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
 fi
 
-if test x$build_bitcoin_utils$build_bitcoin_libs$build_bitcoind$bitcoin_enable_qt$use_tests = xnononono; then
+if test x$build_bitcoin_utils$build_bitcoin_libs$build_bitcoind$bitcoin_enable_qt$use_tests = xnonononono; then
   AC_MSG_ERROR([No targets! Please specify at least one of: --with-utils --with-libs --with-daemon --with-gui or --enable-tests])
 fi
 
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 1ef88f0680..1f9a1621a7 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ $(LIBSECP256K1): $(wildcard secp256k1/src/*) $(wildcard secp256k1/include/*)
 
 # Make is not made aware of per-object dependencies to avoid limiting building parallelization
 # But to build the less dependent modules first, we manually select their order here:
-noinst_LIBRARIES = \
+EXTRA_LIBRARIES = \
   crypto/libbitcoin_crypto.a \
   libbitcoin_util.a \
   libbitcoin_common.a \
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ noinst_LIBRARIES = \
   libbitcoin_cli.a
 if ENABLE_WALLET
 BITCOIN_INCLUDES += $(BDB_CPPFLAGS)
-noinst_LIBRARIES += libbitcoin_wallet.a
+EXTRA_LIBRARIES += libbitcoin_wallet.a
 endif
 
 if BUILD_BITCOIN_LIBS
diff --git a/src/Makefile.qt.include b/src/Makefile.qt.include
index 1192b7bd4e..cdd8f8d08d 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.qt.include
+++ b/src/Makefile.qt.include
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 bin_PROGRAMS += qt/bitcoin-qt
-noinst_LIBRARIES += qt/libbitcoinqt.a
+EXTRA_LIBRARIES += qt/libbitcoinqt.a
 
 # bitcoin qt core #
 QT_TS = \