diff --git a/m4/fontforge_arg_enable.m4 b/m4/fontforge_arg_enable.m4
index 6f1177c..584261c 100644
--- a/m4/fontforge_arg_enable.m4
+++ b/m4/fontforge_arg_enable.m4
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ fi
 if test x"${i_do_have_python_scripting}" != xyes; then
    i_want_python_ver=
 else
-   PKG_CHECK_MODULES([PYTHON],[python-"${PYTHON_VERSION}"], dnl   [PKG_CHECK_MODULES([PYTHONDEV],[python-"${PYTHON_VERSION}"],,[i_do_have_python_scripting=maybe])],
+   PKG_CHECK_MODULES([PYTHON],[python-"${PYTHON_VERSION}"-embed], dnl   [PKG_CHECK_MODULES([PYTHONDEV],[python-"${PYTHON_VERSION}"],,[i_do_have_python_scripting=maybe])],
       [PKG_CHECK_MODULES([PYTHONDEV],[python-"${PYTHON_VERSION}"],,[i_do_have_python_scripting=no])],
       [i_do_have_python_scripting=no])
 dnl dnl TODO: have python3 AND python2, but only have python2 dev, but no python3 dev