diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 9fb6f03fa..64f5a7ecb 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2006-05-22  Marcus Brinkmann  <marcus@g10code.de>
+
+	* configure.ac: Remove check for noexecstack and invoke
+	CL_AS_NOEXECSTACK instead.
+
 2006-05-16  Werner Koch  <wk@g10code.com>
 
 	* README: Removed note for OSF5 as this is the default now.
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 50f28e020..a6adfc26a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -109,16 +109,6 @@ dnl if test "$use_m_guard" = yes ; then
 dnl     AC_DEFINE(M_GUARD,1,[Define to use the (obsolete) malloc guarding feature])
 dnl fi
 
-# We don't have a test to check whether as(1) knows about the
-# non executable stack option.  Thus we provide an option to enable
-# it.
-AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether non excutable stack support is requested])
-AC_ARG_ENABLE(noexecstack,
-              AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-noexecstack],
-                             [enable non executable stack support (gcc only)]),
-              noexecstack_support=$enableval, noexecstack_support=no)
-AC_MSG_RESULT($noexecstack_support)
-
 # SELinux support includes tracking of sensitive files to avoid
 # leaking their contents through processing these files by gpg itself
 AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether SELinux support is requested])
@@ -1287,16 +1277,9 @@ if test "$GCC" = yes; then
     if test x"$_gcc_psign" = xyes ; then
        CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -Wno-pointer-sign"
     fi
-
-    # Non exec stack hack.  Fixme: Write a test to check whether as
-    # can cope with it and use the enable-noexecstack option only to
-    # disable it in case it is required on sime platforms.
-    if test "$noexecstack_support" = yes; then
-        NOEXECSTACK_FLAGS="-Wa,--noexecstack"
-    fi
 fi
-AC_SUBST(NOEXECSTACK_FLAGS)
 
+CL_AS_NOEXECSTACK
 
 if test "$print_egd_warning" = yes; then
   AC_MSG_WARN([[
diff --git a/m4/ChangeLog b/m4/ChangeLog
index 5a230c587..2ba90ba17 100644
--- a/m4/ChangeLog
+++ b/m4/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2006-05-22  Marcus Brinkmann  <marcus@g10code.de>
+
+	* noexecstack.m4: New file.
+
 2006-05-09  David Shaw  <dshaw@jabberwocky.com>
 
 	* libcurl.m4: Fix mistaken AC_SUBST when curl is not found.
diff --git a/m4/noexecstack.m4 b/m4/noexecstack.m4
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..629e35134
--- /dev/null
+++ b/m4/noexecstack.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# noexecstack.m4
+dnl Copyright (C) 1995-2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+dnl
+dnl This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+dnl modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+dnl License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+dnl version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+dnl
+dnl This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+dnl but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+dnl MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+dnl Lesser General Public License for more details.
+dnl
+dnl You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+dnl License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
+dnl Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307  USA
+
+dnl Checks whether the stack can be marked nonexecutable by passing an
+dnl option to the C-compiler when acting on .s files.  Returns that
+dnl option in NOEXECSTACK_FLAGS.
+dnl This macro is adapted from one found in GLIBC-2.3.5.
+AC_DEFUN([CL_AS_NOEXECSTACK],[
+AC_REQUIRE([AC_PROG_CC])
+AC_REQUIRE([AM_PROG_AS])
+
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether non excutable stack support is requested])
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(noexecstack,
+              AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-noexecstack],
+                             [enable non executable stack support (gcc only)]),
+              noexecstack_support=$enableval, noexecstack_support=no)
+AC_MSG_RESULT($noexecstack_support)
+
+AC_CACHE_CHECK([whether assembler supports --noexecstack option],
+cl_cv_as_noexecstack, [dnl
+  cat > conftest.c <<EOF
+void foo() {}
+EOF
+  if AC_TRY_COMMAND([${CC} $CFLAGS $CPPFLAGS
+                     -S -o conftest.s conftest.c >/dev/null]) \
+     && grep -q .note.GNU-stack conftest.s \
+     && AC_TRY_COMMAND([${CCAS} $CCASFLAGS $CPPFLAGS -Wa,--noexecstack
+                       -c -o conftest.o conftest.s >/dev/null])
+  then
+    cl_cv_as_noexecstack=yes
+  else
+    cl_cv_as_noexecstack=no
+  fi
+  rm -f conftest*])
+  if test "$noexecstack_support" = yes -a "$cl_cv_as_noexecstack" = yes; then
+	NOEXECSTACK_FLAGS="-Wa,--noexecstack"
+  else
+        NOEXECSTACK_FLAGS=
+  fi
+  AC_SUBST(NOEXECSTACK_FLAGS)
+])