diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 060677f250..aca462a00d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -448,10 +448,19 @@ LIBS += $(shell $(LIBPNG_CONFIG)  --L_opts $(PNGCONFIG_FLAGS))
 endif
 endif
 
+# iconv is enabled defaultly on OSX > 10.3
 ifdef OSX
-ifndef JAGUAR
-LIBS += -liconv
+	ifndef JAGUAR
+		WITH_ICONV=1
+		LIBS += -liconv
+	endif
 endif
+
+ifdef WITH_ICONV
+	CDEFS += -DWITH_ICONV
+	ifdef WITH_ICONV_PATH
+		CFLAGS += -I$(WITH_ICONV_PATH)
+	endif
 endif
 
 # enables/disables assert()
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index a8556c9a06..9c2c726e49 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -31,12 +31,14 @@ function showhelp() {
 	echo " zlib               Do you want zlib-support?           [yes]"
 	echo " sdl                Do you want SDL-support?            [yes]"
 	echo " png                Do you want PNG-support?            [yes]"
+	echo " iconv              Do you want iconv-support?          [no]"
 	echo " cocoa              Do you want cocoa-support? (MacOSX) [no]"
 	echo ""
 	echo "Params used to configure external libs:"
 	echo " --static-zlib-path Set the path to your static zlib    []"
 	echo " --sdl-config       Where is your sdl-config            [sdl-config]"
 	echo " --libpng-config    Where is your libpng-config         [libpng-config]"
+	echo " --with-iconv       Set the path to your iconv headers  []"
 	echo " "
 }
 
@@ -149,6 +151,16 @@ do
 		--without-png)
 			PARAM="$PARAM WITH_PNG="
 			;;
+		--with-iconv)
+			PARAM="$PARAM WITH_ICONV=1"
+			;;
+		--with-iconv=*)
+			PARAM="$PARAM WITH_ICONV=1"
+			handle WITH_ICONV_PATH "$n"
+			;;
+		--without-iconv)
+			PARAM="$PARAM WITH_ICONV="
+			;;
 		--with-cocoa)
 			PARAM="$PARAM WITH_COCOA=1"
 			;;
diff --git a/makefiledir/Makefile.config_writer b/makefiledir/Makefile.config_writer
index 7caff27d77..c4941bc10e 100644
--- a/makefiledir/Makefile.config_writer
+++ b/makefiledir/Makefile.config_writer
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ $(MAKE_CONFIG):
 	$(call CONFIG_LINE,WITH_ZLIB:=$(WITH_ZLIB))
 	$(call CONFIG_LINE,WITH_SDL:=$(WITH_SDL))
 	$(call CONFIG_LINE,WITH_PNG:=$(WITH_PNG))
+	$(call CONFIG_LINE,WITH_ICONV:=$(WITH_ICONV))
+	$(call CONFIG_LINE,WITH_ICONV_PATH:=$(WITH_ICONV_PATH))
 	$(call CONFIG_LINE,STATIC_ZLIB_PATH:=$(STATIC_ZLIB_PATH))
 	$(call CONFIG_LINE,WITH_COCOA:=$(WITH_COCOA))
 	$(call CONFIG_LINE,)
diff --git a/unix.c b/unix.c
index 7374dce9ad..1aac933f60 100644
--- a/unix.c
+++ b/unix.c
@@ -603,11 +603,6 @@ void CSleep(int milliseconds)
 	#endif // __AMIGA__
 }
 
-// No proper makefile detection, so just force this for the time being
-#if defined(__APPLE__) && (MAC_OS_X_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED >= MAC_OS_X_VERSION_10_3)
-# define WITH_ICONV
-#endif
-
 #ifdef WITH_ICONV
 
 #include <iconv.h>
@@ -621,7 +616,7 @@ void CSleep(int milliseconds)
  * locale can be found, don't do any conversion "" */
 static const char *GetLocalCode(void)
 {
-#if defined(__APPLE__) && (MAC_OS_X_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED >= MAC_OS_X_VERSION_10_3)
+#if defined(__APPLE__)
 	return "UTF-8-MAC";
 #else
 	/* Strip locale (eg en_US.UTF-8) to only have UTF-8 */