--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 EXTERN_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
 
 AC_INIT
-AC_REVISION($Revision: 1.450 $)
+AC_REVISION($Revision: 1.451 $)
 AC_PREREQ(2.57)
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/octave.cc])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h)
@@ -431,6 +431,49 @@
       AC_DEFINE(HAVE_MPI, 1, [Define if MPI is available.])])])
 fi
 
+
+# Check for IEEE 754 compliance
+AC_ARG_WITH(ieee754, [  --with-ieee754          force IEEE754 compliance],
+	  with_ieee754=$withval, with_ieee754=no)
+
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([IEEE 754 compliance])
+if test "$with_ieee754" = yes; then
+  AC_MSG_RESULT(forced)
+else
+  # Test for conformance to IEEE 754 or IEEE 854 standards
+  # Need to temporarily change the quote to print "[]"
+  changequote(<-, ->)dnl
+  cat > conftest.c << EOF
+  int main (void) 
+  {
+     /* Test for IEEE754 floating point representation. */
+     union { unsigned char c[8]; double d; }
+     l = {{0x1c, 0xbc, 0x6e, 0xf2, 0x54, 0x8b, 0x11, 0x43}},
+     b = {{0x43, 0x11, 0x8b, 0x54, 0xf2, 0x6e, 0xbc, 0x1c}};
+     return l.d!=1234567891234567.0 && b.d!=1234567891234567.0;
+  }
+EOF
+  changequote([, ])dnl
+
+  ac_try="$CC -o conftest conftest.c"
+  if AC_TRY_EVAL(ac_try) ; then
+    ac_try="./conftest"
+    if AC_TRY_EVAL(ac_try) ; then
+      with_ieee754=yes
+      AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
+    else
+      AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
+    fi
+  else	
+    AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
+  fi
+  rm -f conftest*
+fi
+
+if test "$with_ieee754" = yes; then
+  AC_DEFINE(HAVE_IEEE754_COMPLIANCE, 1, [Define if the system is IEEE754 complant.])
+fi
+
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 ### We need these before trying to find libf2c.