diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8c43d67a..dc6754da 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ AC_CHECK_HEADERS(malloc/malloc.h)
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(malloc.h)
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(endian.h)
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(execinfo.h)
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS(numaif.h)
 AC_CHECK_DECLS([ntohll],[], [], [[#include <arpa/inet.h>]])
 AC_CHECK_DECLS([be64toh],[], [], [[#include <arpa/inet.h>]])
 
@@ -186,9 +187,14 @@ Info at: http://usqcd.jlab.org/usqcd-docs/c-lime/)])
 
 AC_SEARCH_LIBS([crc32], [z],
                [AC_DEFINE([HAVE_ZLIB], [1], [Define to 1 if you have the `LIBZ' library])]
-               [have_zlib=true],
+               [have_zlib=true] [LIBS="${LIBS} -lz"],
 	       [AC_MSG_ERROR(zlib library was not found in your system.)])
 
+AC_SEARCH_LIBS([move_pages], [numa],
+               [AC_DEFINE([HAVE_LIBNUMA], [1], [Define to 1 if you have the `LIBNUMA' library])]
+               [have_libnuma=true] [LIBS="${LIBS} -lnuma"],
+	       [AC_MSG_WARN(libnuma library was not found in your system. Some optimisations will not apply)])
+
 AC_SEARCH_LIBS([H5Fopen], [hdf5_cpp],
                [AC_DEFINE([HAVE_HDF5], [1], [Define to 1 if you have the `HDF5' library])]
                [have_hdf5=true]
diff --git a/lib/communicator/Communicator_mpi3.cc b/lib/communicator/Communicator_mpi3.cc
index f5646d44..4192300b 100644
--- a/lib/communicator/Communicator_mpi3.cc
+++ b/lib/communicator/Communicator_mpi3.cc
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ Author: Peter Boyle <paboyle@ph.ed.ac.uk>
 #include <sys/shm.h>
 #include <sys/mman.h>
 #include <zlib.h>
+#ifdef HAVE_NUMAIF_H
 #include <numaif.h>
+#endif
 #ifndef SHM_HUGETLB
 #define SHM_HUGETLB 04000
 #endif
@@ -216,6 +218,8 @@ void CartesianCommunicator::Init(int *argc, char ***argv) {
       if ( ptr == MAP_FAILED ) {       perror("failed mmap");      assert(0);    }
       assert(((uint64_t)ptr&0x3F)==0);
 
+      // Try to force numa domain on the shm segment if we have numaif.h
+#ifdef HAVE_NUMAIF_H
 	int status;
 	int flags=MPOL_MF_MOVE;
 #ifdef KNL
@@ -225,13 +229,13 @@ void CartesianCommunicator::Init(int *argc, char ***argv) {
 	int nodes=r; // numa domain == MPI ID
 #endif
 	unsigned long count=1;
-      for(uint64_t page=0;page<size;page+=4096){
-	void *pages = (void *) ( page + (uint64_t)ptr );
-	uint64_t *cow_it = (uint64_t *)pages;	*cow_it = 1;
-	ierr= move_pages(0,count, &pages,&nodes,&status,flags);
-	if (ierr && (page==0)) perror("numa relocate command failed");
-      }
-
+	for(uint64_t page=0;page<size;page+=4096){
+	  void *pages = (void *) ( page + (uint64_t)ptr );
+	  uint64_t *cow_it = (uint64_t *)pages;	*cow_it = 1;
+	  ierr= move_pages(0,count, &pages,&nodes,&status,flags);
+	  if (ierr && (page==0)) perror("numa relocate command failed");
+	}
+#endif
       ShmCommBufs[r] =ptr;
       
     }