diff -ruN snort-2.9.8.3.orig/configure.in snort-2.9.8.3/configure.in
--- snort-2.9.8.3.orig/configure.in	2016-04-26 10:08:28.000000000 -0000
+++ snort-2.9.8.3/configure.in	2017-09-25 20:21:17.632003858 -0000
@@ -187,6 +187,22 @@
 AC_CHECK_LIB(nsl, inet_ntoa)
 fi
 
+AC_ARG_WITH([libtirpc],
+           AS_HELP_STRING([--with-libtirpc], [Use libtirpc as RPC implementation (instead of sunrpc)]),
+           [], [ with_libtirpc=no ])
+
+AS_IF([test "x$with_libtirpc" != xno], 
+      [PKG_CHECK_MODULES([TIRPC], 
+                         [libtirpc], 
+                         [extra_incl="$extra_incl $TIRPC_CFLAGS"; LIBS="$LIBS $TIRPC_LIBS";],
+                        [AC_MSG_ERROR([libtirpc requested, but library not found.])]
+                       )], 
+      [AC_CHECK_HEADER(rpc/rpc.h, 
+                      [],
+                      [AC_MSG_ERROR([sunrpc requested, but headers are not present.])]
+                     )]
+)
+
 if test -z "$no_libsocket"; then
 AC_CHECK_LIB(socket, socket)
 fi