diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 64c701e..58a7ef0 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -33,9 +33,13 @@ CCFLAGS = %w(
             ) + # Added -Wno-missing-field-initializers to shut GCC up over {0} struct initialisers
             [ENV['CFLAGS']]
 
-LIBCHECK = File.exists?("/usr/lib/libcheck.a") ?
-  "/usr/lib/libcheck.a" :
+LIBCHECK = if File.exists?("/usr/lib/libcheck.a")
+  "/usr/lib/libcheck.a"
+elsif File.exists?("/usr/local/lib/libcheck.a")
   "/usr/local/lib/libcheck.a"
+else
+  "-lcheck"
+end
 
 TEST_MODULES = Dir["tests/unit/check_*.c"].map { |n|
   File.basename( n )[%r{check_(.+)\.c},1] }