diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 1e88906..c74b9ba 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ configure_file(output: 'config.h',
 )
 
 c_compiler = meson.get_compiler('c')
-readline = c_compiler.find_library('readline', required: false)
+readline = c_compiler.find_library('readline', required: true)
 if readline.found()
   add_project_arguments('-DHAVE_READLINE', language: 'c')
 endif
diff --git a/src/ctl/CMakeLists.txt b/src/ctl/CMakeLists.txt
index 7d41b54..837109f 100644
--- a/src/ctl/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/ctl/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ find_package(PkgConfig)
 pkg_check_modules (GLIB2 REQUIRED glib-2.0)
 link_directories( ${GLIB2_LIBRARY_DIRS})
 include_directories( ${GLIB2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
-find_package(Readline)
+find_package(Readline REQUIRED)
 pkg_check_modules (GLIB2 REQUIRED glib-2.0)
 ########### next target ###############