--- configure.in
+++ configure.in
@@ -96,13 +96,64 @@
 AC_SUBST(CONFIG_DYNAMIC_LINKING)
 
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Checks for system headers
+# Check for iconv
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-AC_CHECK_HEADER([iconv.h],[
-  CONFIG_USE_ICONV="#define USE_ICONV"
-], [])
+AC_ARG_WITH(iconv,
+changequote(<<, >>)dnl
+<<  --with-iconv[=DIR]      where to find iconv [system]>>dnl
+changequote([, ])dnl
+)
+
+AC_LANG_SAVE
+AC_LANG_C  # compile C to avoid the 'const char**' problem
+
+# Check for iconv
+# Modified from GNOME's libxml2 configure.in
+CONFIG_USE_ICONV=""
+if test "$with_iconv" = "no" ; then
+    AC_MSG_RESULT([disabling iconv support])
+else
+    if test "$with_iconv" != "yes" -a "$with_iconv" != "" ; then
+	CPPFLAGS="-I$with_iconv/include" # for AC_TRY_LINK
+	ICONV_CFLAGS="-I$with_iconv/include"
+	ICONV_LDFLAGS="-L$with_iconv/lib"
+    fi
+
+    AC_CHECK_HEADER(iconv.h,
+	AC_MSG_CHECKING(for iconv)
+	AC_TRY_LINK([#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <iconv.h>],[
+iconv_t cd = iconv_open ("","");
+iconv (cd, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);],[
+	    AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
+	    CONFIG_USE_ICONV="#define USE_ICONV"],[
+	    AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
+	    AC_MSG_CHECKING(for iconv in -liconv)
+	    LDFLAGS="${ICONV_LDFLAGS}"    # for AC_TRY_LINK
+	    LIBS="-liconv"                # for AC_TRY_LINK
+	    AC_TRY_LINK([#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <iconv.h>],[
+iconv_t cd = iconv_open ("","");
+iconv (cd, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);],[
+		AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
+		CONFIG_USE_ICONV="#define USE_ICONV"
+		ICONV_LDFLAGS="${ICONV_LDFLAGS} -liconv"],[
+		AC_MSG_RESULT(no)])]))
+fi
+
+if test "$CONFIG_USE_ICONV" = "" ; then
+   AC_MSG_WARN([iconv was not found, HTML and XML import may crash])
+fi
+CPPFLAGS=""
+LDFLAGS=""
+LIBS=""
+AC_LANG_RESTORE  # restore C++ language
+
 AC_SUBST(CONFIG_USE_ICONV)
+AC_SUBST(ICONV_CFLAGS)
+AC_SUBST(ICONV_LDFLAGS)
+
 
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Checks for library functions


--- src/Resource/Converters/converter.cpp
+++ src/Resource/Converters/converter.cpp
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@
 iconv_adaptor(size_t(*iconv_func)(iconv_t, T, size_t *, char**, size_t*),
 	      iconv_t cd, char **inbuf, size_t *inbytesleft,
 	      char **outbuf, size_t *outbytesleft) {
-  return iconv_func (cd, static_cast<T>(inbuf), inbytesleft,
+  return iconv_func (cd, (T)inbuf, inbytesleft,
 		     outbuf, outbytesleft);
 }
 


--- src/common.makefile.in
+++ src/common.makefile.in
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 CPPFLAGS = 
 DASH_I_DASH = @CONFIG_DASH_I_DASH@
 CXXXWINDOW address@hidden@
+CXXICONV = @ICONV_CFLAGS@
 CXXGUILE = @GUILE_CFLAGS@
 LD = @CXX@
 LDFLAGS = @CONFIG_LFLAGS@
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@
 LDPATH = @CONFIG_LPATH@
 LDXWINDOW address@hidden@
 LDDL = @CONFIG_LDL@
+LDICONV = @ICONV_LDFLAGS@
 LDGUILE = @GUILE_LDFLAGS@
 LDB = @CXX@
 LDBFLAGS = @CONFIG_BFLAGS@
@@ -57,6 +59,7 @@
 LDBPATH = @CONFIG_BPATH@
 LDBXWINDOW address@hidden@
 LDBDL = @CONFIG_BDL@
+LDBICONV = @ICONV_LDFLAGS@
 LDBGUILE = @GUILE_LDFLAGS@
 AR = ar
 ARFLAGS = -r
@@ -135,8 +138,8 @@
 
 deps_incl = $(call tm_incl_flags,System System/Boot System/Classes System/Files System/Link System/Misc Classes/Abstract Classes/Atomic Classes/Compound Data/Drd Data/String Data/Tree Data/Convert Resource Plugins Window Typeset Edit Texmacs Guile)
 
-deps_flags = $(deps_incl)\
- $(CPPFLAGS) $(CXXGUILE) -I$(tmsrc)/include $(CXXXWINDOW)
+deps_flags = $(deps_incl) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CXXICONV) $(CXXGUILE) \
+	-I$(tmsrc)/include $(CXXXWINDOW)
 # we should use -I- to separate local includes from system includes, but
 # headers of guile 1.6.0 use includes in quotes with names relative to the
 # current directory, and that feature is disable by -I-.
@@ -216,8 +219,10 @@
 %.o: %.cpp # Disable implicit compilation rule
 
 cxx_flags    = $(strip $(CXX) $(1) -c $< -o $@)
-cxx_incl     = $(call cxx_flags,$(1) $(CXXGUILE) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS)) 
-cxx_incl_sys = $(call cxx_flags,$(1) $(CXXGUILE) $(CPPFLAGS) $(DASH_I_DASH) $(2) $(CXXFLAGS))
+cxx_incl     = $(call cxx_flags,$(1) $(CXXICONV) $(CXXGUILE) \
+	$(CPPFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS)) 
+cxx_incl_sys = $(call cxx_flags,$(1) $(CXXICONV) $(CXXGUILE) \
+	$(CPPFLAGS) $(DASH_I_DASH) $(2) $(CXXFLAGS))
 
 $(system_obj): Objects/%.o: %.cpp
 	$(call cxx_incl_sys,$(system_incl),-I$(tmsrc)/include)


--- src/makefile
+++ src/makefile
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@
 TEXMACS_objects := $(strip $(call uses,system classes data resource plugins\
  window typeset edit glue) $(texmacs_obj) $(instanciations_obj))
 
-link_options:=-L$(tmsrc)/lib -lm $(LDBPATH) $(LDBXWINDOW) $(LDBGUILE) $(LDBDL)
+link_options:=-L$(tmsrc)/lib -lm $(LDBPATH) $(LDBXWINDOW) \
+	$(LDBGUILE) $(LDBDL) $(LDBICONV)
 
 $(tmsrc)/bin/texmacs.bin: Objects/texmacs-$(link).bin
 	$(CP) $^ $@