diff --git a/Dockerfile.dev b/Dockerfile.dev
index f09c4143d..0bb25b983 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.dev
+++ b/Dockerfile.dev
@@ -68,9 +68,6 @@ RUN dnf -y install \
 RUN pip install \
         gcovr
 
-ENV PKG_CONFIG_PATH /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig
-ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH /usr/local/lib
-
 # Build & Install libxil
 COPY thirdparty/libxil /tmp/libxil
 RUN mkdir -p /tmp/libxil/build && cd /tmp/libxil/build && cmake .. && make install
@@ -96,4 +93,4 @@ ENTRYPOINT villas
 
 WORKDIR /villas
 
-ENTRYPOINT bash
\ No newline at end of file
+ENTRYPOINT bash
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 34bc55a78..03c7d75c8 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -50,6 +50,13 @@ CFLAGS  += -std=c11 -MMD -mcx16
 CFLAGS  += -Wall -Werror -fdiagnostics-color=auto
 LDFLAGS += -L$(BUILDDIR)
 
+# Some environment variables to increase compatability with Fedora and other distros
+export PKG_CONFIG_PATH := /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/lib/pkgconfig:$(PKG_CONFIG_PATH)
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH := /usr/local/lib:/usr/lib:$(LD_LIBRARY_PATH)
+
+# Some tools
+PKGCONFIG := PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$(PKG_CONFIG_PATH) pkg-config
+
 # We must compile without optimizations for gcov!
 ifdef DEBUG
 	CFLAGS += -O0 -g
diff --git a/lib/Makefile.villas.inc b/lib/Makefile.villas.inc
index d6f3d3f6c..aef409a0a 100644
--- a/lib/Makefile.villas.inc
+++ b/lib/Makefile.villas.inc
@@ -37,13 +37,18 @@ LIB_SRCS += $(addprefix lib/nodes/, file.c cbuilder.c shmem.c) 		\
 LIB_LDFLAGS = -shared
 LIB_LDLIBS  = $(LDLIBS) -ldl -lrt -Wl,-soname,$(LIB_NAME).so.$(LIB_ABI_VERSION)
 
-LIB_PKGS = openssl
+LIB_PKGS += libwebsockets openssl
+
+ifneq ($(shell $(PKGCONFIG) --print-errors $(LIB_PKGS); echo $$?),0)
+$(error Please install missing dependencies: make install-thirdparty)
+endif
+
 
 ######## Node types ########
 
 # Enable Socket node type when libnl3 is available
 ifndef WITHOUT_SOCKET
-ifeq ($(shell pkg-config libnl-route-3.0; echo $$?),0)
+ifeq ($(shell $(PKGCONFIG) libnl-route-3.0; echo $$?),0)
 	LIB_SRCS    += $(addprefix lib/nodes/, socket.c)
 	LIB_SRCS    += $(addprefix lib/kernel/, nl.c tc.c if.c)
 	LIB_SRCS    += $(addprefix lib/, msg.c)
@@ -53,7 +58,7 @@ endif
 
 # Enable VILLASfpga support when libxil is available
 ifndef WITHOUT_FPGA
-ifeq ($(shell pkg-config libxil; echo $$?),0)
+ifeq ($(shell $(PKGCONFIG) libxil; echo $$?),0)
 	LIB_SRCS    += $(addprefix lib/nodes/, fpga.c)
 	LIB_SRCS    += $(addprefix lib/kernel/, pci.c vfio.c)
 	PKGS        += libxil
@@ -64,29 +69,27 @@ endif
 
 # Enable NGSI support
 ifndef WITHOUT_NGSI
-ifeq ($(shell pkg-config libcurl jansson; echo $$?),0)
+ifeq ($(shell $(PKGCONFIG) libcurl jansson; echo $$?),0)
 	LIB_SRCS    += lib/nodes/ngsi.c
 	LIB_PKGS    += libcurl jansson
 endif
 endif
 
 # Enable WebSocket support
-ifndef WITHOUT_WEBSOCKETS
-ifeq ($(shell pkg-config libwebsockets jansson; echo $$?),0)
+ifeq ($(shell $(PKGCONFIG) libwebsockets jansson; echo $$?),0)
 	LIB_SRCS    += lib/nodes/websocket.c lib/webmsg.c
 	LIB_PKGS    += libwebsockets jansson
 endif
-endif
 
 # Enable OPAL-RT Asynchronous Process support (will result in 32bit binary!!!)
 ifdef WITH_OPAL
-ifneq (,$(wildcard thirdparty/opal/include/AsyncApi.h))
+ifneq ($(wildcard thirdparty/opal/include/AsyncApi.h),)
 	LIB_OBJS    += opal.o
 
 	LIB_CFLAGS  += -I thirdparty/opal/include
 	LIB_LDFLAGS += -L/lib/i386-linux-gnu/ -L/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/ -Lthirdparty/opal/lib/redhawk/
 	LIB_LDLIBS  += -lOpalAsyncApiCore -lOpalCore -lOpalUtils -lirc
-	
+
 	# libOpalAsyncApi is a 32bit library. So we need to build everything in 32bit
 	CFLAGS      += -m32
 	LDFLAGS     += -m32
@@ -95,7 +98,8 @@ endif
 endif
 
 # Add flags by pkg-config
-LIB_LDLIBS += $(shell pkg-config --libs ${LIB_PKGS})
+LIB_LDLIBS += $(shell $(PKGCONFIG) --libs $(LIB_PKGS))
+LIB_CFLAGS += $(shell $(PKGCONFIG) --cflags $(LIB_PKGS))
 
 LIB_OBJS = $(patsubst %.c, $(BUILDDIR)/%.o, $(LIB_SRCS))