diff --git a/scripts/dtc/Makefile b/scripts/dtc/Makefile
index 82160808765c3ea475b30c41887810e44154a962..b5a5b1c548c9b230316101d1fc958d16de5913dc 100644
--- a/scripts/dtc/Makefile
+++ b/scripts/dtc/Makefile
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ dtc-objs	+= dtc-lexer.lex.o dtc-parser.tab.o
 # Source files need to get at the userspace version of libfdt_env.h to compile
 HOST_EXTRACFLAGS := -I $(srctree)/$(src)/libfdt
 
-ifeq ($(wildcard /usr/include/yaml.h),)
+ifeq ($(shell pkg-config --exists yaml-0.1 2>/dev/null && echo yes),)
 ifneq ($(CHECK_DTBS),)
 $(error dtc needs libyaml for DT schema validation support. \
 	Install the necessary libyaml development package.)
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ endif
 HOST_EXTRACFLAGS += -DNO_YAML
 else
 dtc-objs	+= yamltree.o
-HOSTLDLIBS_dtc	:= -lyaml
+HOSTLDLIBS_dtc	:= $(shell pkg-config yaml-0.1 --libs)
 endif
 
 # Generated files need one more search path to include headers in source tree