diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
index 937fb5661b..464f356cb7 100644
--- a/acinclude.m4
+++ b/acinclude.m4
@@ -868,6 +868,7 @@ case $AFS_SYSNAME in *_linux* | *_umlinux*)
 						unsigned int flags])
 
 		 dnl Check for header files
+		 AC_CHECK_LINUX_HEADER([cred.h])
 		 AC_CHECK_LINUX_HEADER([config.h])
 		 AC_CHECK_LINUX_HEADER([completion.h])
 		 AC_CHECK_LINUX_HEADER([exportfs.h])
diff --git a/src/afs/LINUX/osi_machdep.h b/src/afs/LINUX/osi_machdep.h
index 9d3faa9035..9008f7732e 100644
--- a/src/afs/LINUX/osi_machdep.h
+++ b/src/afs/LINUX/osi_machdep.h
@@ -71,8 +71,10 @@
 
 #define afs_hz HZ
 #include "h/sched.h"
-/* in case cred.h is not included in sched.h */
+/* in case cred.h is present but not included in sched.h */
+#if defined(HAVE_LINUX_CRED_H)
 #include "h/cred.h"
+#endif
 #if defined(HAVE_LINUX_CURRENT_KERNEL_TIME)
 static inline time_t osi_Time(void) {
     struct timespec xtime;