diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a01efea5264f134f542f4497dad752ae70adf96a..2af074db0e974b6c7024cfd1b50879c9eadde746 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -118,6 +118,12 @@ LIBGD_INIT([
 GLIB_COMPILE_RESOURCES=`$PKG_CONFIG --variable glib_compile_resources gio-2.0`
 AC_SUBST(GLIB_COMPILE_RESOURCES)
 
+AC_ARG_VAR([DESKTOP_FILE_VALIDATE], [the desktop-file-validate program])
+AC_PATH_PROG([DESKTOP_FILE_VALIDATE], [desktop-file-validate], [])
+if test -z "$DESKTOP_FILE_VALIDATE"; then
+  AC_MSG_ERROR([desktop-file-validate not found])
+fi
+
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([
 Makefile
 data/Makefile
diff --git a/data/Makefile.am b/data/Makefile.am
index 0eedfea8fbf0e830ee860c5e6d381a0bff5c6d2c..10d37678449c0ebd93ceff80014eac317c15e135 100644
--- a/data/Makefile.am
+++ b/data/Makefile.am
@@ -36,4 +36,13 @@ DISTCLEANFILES = \
 	$(desktop_in_files) \
 	$(NULL)
 
+desktop-file-validate: $(desktop_DATA)
+	for f in $^; do \
+		$(DESKTOP_FILE_VALIDATE) $$f; \
+	done
+
+check-local: desktop-file-validate
+
+.PHONY: desktop-file-validate
+
 -include $(top_srcdir)/git.mk