diff --git a/libyang2-sys/Cargo.toml b/libyang2-sys/Cargo.toml
index 7353f56..45598a6 100644
--- a/libyang2-sys/Cargo.toml
+++ b/libyang2-sys/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ categories = ["external-ffi-bindings"]
 bindgen = { version = "0.68.0", optional = true }
 cc = { version = "1.0", features = ["parallel"], optional = true }
 cmake = { version = "0.1", optional = true }
+pkg-config = "0.3.27"
 
 [features]
 # Use pre-generated FFI bindings
diff --git a/libyang2-sys/build.rs b/libyang2-sys/build.rs
index 4468b05..0775105 100644
--- a/libyang2-sys/build.rs
+++ b/libyang2-sys/build.rs
@@ -130,8 +130,18 @@ fn main() {
 
         build.compile("yang2");
         println!("cargo:root={}", env::var("OUT_DIR").unwrap());
-        println!("cargo:rustc-link-lib=pcre2-8");
+        if let Err(e) = pkg_config::Config::new().probe("libpcre2-8") {
+            println!("cargo:warning=failed to find pcre2 library with pkg-config: {}", e);
+            println!("cargo:warning=attempting to link without pkg-config");
+            println!("cargo:rustc-link-lib=pcre2-8");
+        }
     }
     #[cfg(not(feature = "bundled"))]
-    println!("cargo:rustc-link-lib=yang");
+    {
+        if let Err(e) = pkg_config::Config::new().probe("libyang") {
+            println!("cargo:warning=failed to find yang library with pkg-config: {}", e);
+            println!("cargo:warning=attempting to link without pkg-config");
+            println!("cargo:rustc-link-lib=yang");
+        }
+    }
 }