diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index aefa2303e..e1fa786c2 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -763,6 +763,7 @@ dnl =========================
 
 AC_PROG_INSTALL
 AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
+AC_PROG_EGREP
 AC_PROG_AWK
 AC_PROG_LEX
 AC_PROG_YACC
@@ -781,6 +782,24 @@ else
 	AC_MSG_RESULT([not found])
 fi
 
+dnl translate user/group to numercial ids
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([for uid of user "$ipsecuser"])
+ipsecuid=`id -u $ipsecuser 2>/dev/null`
+if test -n "$ipsecuid"; then
+	AC_MSG_RESULT([$ipsecuid])
+	AC_SUBST(ipsecuid)
+else
+	AC_MSG_ERROR([not found])
+fi
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([for gid of group "$ipsecgroup"])
+ipsecgid=`$EGREP "^$ipsecgroup" /etc/group | $AWK -F: '{ print $3 }'`
+if test -n "$ipsecgid"; then
+	AC_MSG_RESULT([$ipsecgid])
+	AC_SUBST(ipsecgid)
+else
+	AC_MSG_ERROR([not found])
+fi
+
 dnl =========================
 dnl  dependency calculation
 dnl =========================