--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 ### Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
 ### 02111-1307, USA. 
 
-AC_REVISION($Revision: 1.342 $)
+AC_REVISION($Revision: 1.343 $)
 AC_PREREQ(2.9)
 AC_INIT(src/octave.cc)
 AC_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h)
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@
 DEPEND_EXTRA_SED_PATTERN=""
 case "$canonical_host_type" in
   sparc-sun-solaris2* | i386-pc-solaris2*)
-    if test "$GCC" = "yes"; then
+    if test "$GCC" = yes; then
       true
     else
       DEPEND_FLAGS="-xM1"
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@
 
 ### We do our own template instantiation for specific compilers.
 
-if test "$cxx_auto_instantiate_templates" = "no"; then
+if test "$cxx_auto_instantiate_templates" = no; then
   OCTAVE_CXX_FLAG(-fno-implicit-templates, [
     XTRA_CXXFLAGS="$XTRA_CXXFLAGS -fno-implicit-templates"
     AC_MSG_RESULT([adding -fno-implicit-templates to XTRA_CXXFLAGS])])
@@ -342,17 +342,33 @@
   ;;
 esac
 
-# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Check for HDF5 library
-AC_ARG_WITH(hdf5, [  --without-hdf5          don't use HDF5 output], ok=$withval, ok=yes)
-if test "$ok" = "yes"; then
-	AC_CHECK_LIB(z, deflate)
-	AC_CHECK_LIB(hdf5, H5Pcreate, [
-		AC_CHECK_HEADERS(hdf5.h, [LIBS="-lhdf5 $LIBS"
-			                  AC_DEFINE(HAVE_HDF5)])])
+### Check for HDF5 library.
+
+### XXX FIXME XXX -- how can user specify a set of libraries here?
+
+WITH_HDF5=true
+AC_ARG_WITH(hdf5,
+  [  --without-hdf5          don't use HDF5],
+  with_hdf5=$withval, with_hdf5=yes)
+
+hdf5_lib=
+if test "$with_hdf5" = yes; then
+  hdf5_lib="hdf5"
+elif test "$with_hdf5" != no; then
+  hdf5_lib="$with_hdf5"
 fi
 
-# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+HDF5_LIBS=
+WITH_HDF5=false
+if test -n "$hdf5_lib"; then
+  AC_CHECK_LIB($hdf5_lib, H5Pcreate, [
+    AC_CHECK_LIB(z, deflate, [
+      AC_CHECK_HEADERS(hdf5.h, [
+	WITH_HDF5=true
+        HDF5_LIBS="-l$hdf5_lib -lz"
+        LIBS="$HDF5_LIBS $LIBS"
+        AC_DEFINE(HAVE_HDF5)])])])
+fi
 
 ### We need these before trying to find libf2c.
 
@@ -531,18 +547,22 @@
 AC_SUBST(F2CFLAGS)
 AC_SUBST_FILE(f77_rules_frag)
 
-# Checks for BLAS and LAPACK libraries:
+### Checks for BLAS and LAPACK libraries:
 
-# subdirectories of libcruft to build if they aren't found on the system:
+### XXX FIXME XXX -- how can user specify a set of libraries here?
+
+### Subdirectories of libcruft to build if they aren't found on the system:
+
 BLAS_DIR="blas"
 LAPACK_DIR="lapack"
 AC_SUBST(BLAS_DIR)
 AC_SUBST(LAPACK_DIR)
 
-# names of Fortran dgemm & cheev functions to check for (depends upon
-# F77 compiler name-mangling scheme):
-if test "$octave_cv_f77_uppercase_names" = "yes"; then
-  if test "$octave_cv_f77_append_underscore" = "yes"; then
+### names of Fortran dgemm & cheev functions to check for (depends upon
+### F77 compiler name-mangling scheme):
+
+if test "$octave_cv_f77_uppercase_names" = yes; then
+  if test "$octave_cv_f77_append_underscore" = yes; then
     dgemm_func=DGEMM_
     cheev_func=CHEEV_
   else
@@ -550,7 +570,7 @@
     cheev_func=CHEEV
   fi
 else
-  if test "$octave_cv_f77_append_underscore" = "yes" || test -n "${F2C}"; then
+  if test "$octave_cv_f77_append_underscore" = yes || test -n "${F2C}"; then
     dgemm_func=dgemm_
     cheev_func=cheev_
   else
@@ -559,10 +579,13 @@
   fi
 fi
 
-AC_ARG_WITH(fastblas, [  --without-fastblas      use included (generic) BLAS and LAPACK], with_fastblas=$withval, with_fastblas=yes)
-if test "$with_fastblas" = "no"; then
+AC_ARG_WITH(fastblas,
+  [  --without-fastblas      use included (generic) BLAS and LAPACK],
+  with_fastblas=$withval, with_fastblas=yes)
+
+if test "$with_fastblas" = no; then
   BLAS_LIBS=" "
-elif test "$with_fastblas" != "yes"; then
+elif test "$with_fastblas" != yes; then
   # user specified a BLAS library to try on the command line
   AC_CHECK_LIB($with_fastblas, $dgemm_func, 
 	       BLAS_LIBS="-l$with_fastblas", , $FLIBS)
@@ -620,7 +643,7 @@
   AC_CHECK_LIB(blas, $dgemm_func, BLAS_LIBS="-lblas", , $FLIBS)
 fi
 
-if test "$with_fastblas" = "no"; then
+if test "$with_fastblas" = no; then
   # Unset BLAS_LIBS so that we know below that nothing was found.
   BLAS_LIBS=""
 fi
@@ -628,13 +651,13 @@
 if test "x$BLAS_LIBS" != x; then
   BLAS_DIR=""  # don't build our own BLAS
 
-# Check for LAPACK library.  Note that ATLAS has its own liblapack.a,
-# which is designed to be combined with the real LAPACK.  cheev is a
-# function in the real LAPACK but not in ATLAS's version, so this
-# (hopefully) insures that we are getting the real LAPACK.  Note also
-# that on some systems, LAPACK is included in the math library
-# (e.g. DXML) that we already linked to above...we detect this by
-# doing AC_CHECK_FUNC if -llapack isn't found:
+### Check for LAPACK library.  Note that ATLAS has its own liblapack.a,
+### which is designed to be combined with the real LAPACK.  cheev is a
+### function in the real LAPACK but not in ATLAS's version, so this
+### (hopefully) insures that we are getting the real LAPACK.  Note also
+### that on some systems, LAPACK is included in the math library
+### (e.g. DXML) that we already linked to above...we detect this by
+### doing AC_CHECK_FUNC if -llapack isn't found:
 
   AC_CHECK_LIB(lapack, $cheev_func, 
 	       [BLAS_LIBS="-llapack $BLAS_LIBS"; LAPACK_DIR=""],
@@ -794,7 +817,7 @@
     fi
     RLD_FLAG='-R $(octlibdir)'
     # Template closures in archive libraries need a different mechanism.
-    if test "$GXX" = "yes"; then
+    if test "$GXX" = yes; then
       true
     else
       TEMPLATE_AR="$CXX"
@@ -1353,6 +1376,8 @@
   C++ compiler:         $CXX $XTRA_CXXFLAGS $CXXFLAGS
   Fortran compiler:     $FORT
   Fortran libraries:    $FLIBS
+  BLAS libraries:       $BLAS_LIBS
+  HDF5 libraries:       $HDF5_LIBS
   Use GNU readline:     $USE_READLINE
   Default pager:        $DEFAULT_PAGER
   gnuplot:              $GNUPLOT_BINARY