diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e296834a..18af6493 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_WIDGETS, [test "x$have_webkit" = "xyes" -a "x$have_gio" = "
 
 
 # check for guile & guile-snarf
-AC_PATH_PROG(GUILE_CONFIG, [guile-config], [], [/usr/bin])
+AC_PATH_PROG(GUILE_CONFIG, [guile-config], [], [$PATH])
 AS_IF([test "x$GUILE_CONFIG" != "x"],
   [GUILE_CFLAGS=`$GUILE_CONFIG compile`; GUILE_LIBS=`$GUILE_CONFIG link`])
 AC_SUBST(GUILE_LIBS)
@@ -234,7 +234,9 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_GUILE,[test "$xGUILE_CONFIG" != "x" -a "x$GUILE_SNARF" != "x
 			   -a "x$GUILE_MAJOR_VERSION" != "1"])	 
 
 AS_IF([test "x$GUILE_MAJOR_VERSION" = "x0" -o "x$GUILE_MAJOR_VERSION" = "x1"],
-      [AC_MSG_WARN([Only guile >= 2.x is supported])])
+      [AC_MSG_WARN([Only guile >= 2.x is supported]);
+       guile_too_old="yes"])
+
       
 # check for xdg-open
 AS_IF([test "x$buildgui"="xyes"],[
@@ -296,7 +298,9 @@ if test "x$have_webkit" = "xyes"; then
 echo "Webkit version                       : $webkit_version"
 fi
 
-if test "x$HAVE_GUILE" != "x"; then
+if test "x$guile_too_old" = "xyes"; then
+echo "Guile version                        : $GUILE_VERSION (unsupported)"
+else
 echo "Guile version                        : $GUILE_VERSION"
 fi
 
diff --git a/toys/muile/README b/toys/muile/README
index ece625df..fd6f9e22 100644
--- a/toys/muile/README
+++ b/toys/muile/README
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
 
    The git-version and the future 0.9.7 version of mu will automatically build
    muile if you have guile. I've been using guile 2.x from git, but installing
-   the 'guile-1.8-dev' package (Ubuntu/Debian) should do the trick (I did not
-   test with 1.8 though).
+   the 'guile-1.8-dev' package (Ubuntu/Debian) should do the trick. (I only did
+   very minimal testing with guile 1.8 though).
 
    Then, configure mu. The configure output should tell you about whether guile
    was found (and where). If it's found, build mu, and toys/muile should be
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@
    the file 'mu-stats.scm':
 
    ,----
-   | (load "mu-stats.scm)
+   | (load "mu-stats.scm")
    `----
 
    you'll get a bunch of functions (with names starting with 'mu:stats') to make
diff --git a/toys/muile/mu-stats.scm b/toys/muile/mu-stats.scm
index 20d98478..968b1711 100644
--- a/toys/muile/mu-stats.scm
+++ b/toys/muile/mu-stats.scm
@@ -19,8 +19,11 @@
 ;; some guile/scheme functions to get various statistics of my mu
 ;; message store.
 
+(use-modules (ice-9 optargs)) ;; for guile 1.x compatibility
+
+
 ;; note, this is a rather inefficient way to calculate the number; for
-;; demonstration purposes only
+;; demonstration purposes only...
 (define* (mu:stats:count #:optional (EXPR ""))
   "Count the total number of messages. If the optional EXPR is
 provided, only count the messages that match it.\n"