diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index df716bd..17d4060 100755
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@
 AC_ARG_VAR([DMD_LIBEVENT_FLAGS], [DMD flags for linking libevent (auto-detected if not set).])
 AC_ARG_VAR([DMD_OPENSSL_FLAGS], [DMD flags for linking OpenSSL (auto-detected if not set).])
 
+AC_ARG_VAR([THRIFT], [Path to the thrift tool (needed for cross-compilation).])
+AS_IF([test "x$THRIFT" = x], [THRIFT=`pwd`/compiler/cpp/thrift])
+
 AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_CPP
 AC_PROG_CXX