diff --git a/abuild.in b/abuild.in
index 5459a9b757cb89934313bd55d3e9238469bb03f7..1ccb1e439236c3d7cb884d0e7da7bd1464360afe 100644
--- a/abuild.in
+++ b/abuild.in
@@ -616,13 +616,12 @@ postcheck() {
 			return 1
 		fi
 	fi
-	# look for *.la files
-	i=$(find "$dir" -name '*.la' | sed "s|^$dir|\t|")
-	if [ -n "$i" ] && ! options_has "libtool"; then
-		error "Libtool archives (*.la) files found and \$options has no 'libtool' flag:"
-		echo "$i"
-		return 1
+
+	# remove *.la files if libtool is not set
+	if ! options_has "libtool"; then
+		find "$dir" -name '*.la' -type f -delete
 	fi
+
 	# look for /usr/lib/charset.alias
 	if [ -e "$dir"/usr/lib/charset.alias ] \
 			&& ! options_has "charset.alias"; then