diff --git a/Makefile.target b/Makefile.target
index 551f7e13e2..1626833bc0 100644
--- a/Makefile.target
+++ b/Makefile.target
@@ -490,8 +490,10 @@ loader.o: loader.c elf_ops.h
 
 acpi.o: acpi.c acpi-dsdt.hex
 
-#$(SRC_PATH)/hw/acpi-dsdt.hex: acpi-dsdt.dsl
-#	iasl -tc -p $@ $<
+ifdef BUILD_ACPI_TABLES
+$(SRC_PATH)/hw/acpi-dsdt.hex: acpi-dsdt.dsl
+	iasl -tc -p $@ $<
+endif
 
 ifeq ($(TARGET_ARCH), sh4)
 op.o: op.c op_mem.c cpu.h
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index fa81febb4b..ef73a9f31e 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ check_gcc="yes"
 softmmu="yes"
 user="no"
 build_docs="no"
+build_acpi_tables="no"
 uname_release=""
 
 # OS specific
@@ -240,6 +241,8 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --enable-uname-release=*) uname_release="$optarg"
   ;;
+  --enable-iasl) build_acpi_tables="yes"
+  ;;
   esac
 done
 
@@ -288,6 +291,7 @@ echo "  --disable-user           disable all linux usermode emulation targets"
 echo "  --fmod-lib               path to FMOD library"
 echo "  --fmod-inc               path to FMOD includes"
 echo "  --enable-uname-release=R Return R for uname -r in usermode emulation"
+echo "  --enable-iasl            compilation of ACPI tables with the IASL compiler"
 echo ""
 echo "NOTE: The object files are build at the place where configure is launched"
 exit 1
@@ -708,6 +712,9 @@ echo "TARGET_DIRS=$target_list" >> $config_mak
 if [ "$build_docs" = "yes" ] ; then
   echo "BUILD_DOCS=yes" >> $config_mak
 fi
+if [ "$build_acpi_tables" = "yes" ] ; then
+  echo "BUILD_ACPI_TABLES=yes" >> $config_mak
+fi
 
 # XXX: suppress that
 if [ "$bsd" = "yes" ] ; then