diff --git a/WHATS_NEW b/WHATS_NEW
index 78fba462c..e5cb8f78e 100644
--- a/WHATS_NEW
+++ b/WHATS_NEW
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 Version 2.02.39 -
 ================================
+  Enable readline by default if available.
   Update autoconf to 2008-01-16.
   Add $DISTCLEAN_DIRS to make.tmpl.in.
   Create coverage reports with --enable-profiling and make lcov or lcov-dated.
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index b9f87277d..d9a3bf35d 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1317,7 +1317,7 @@ Optional Features:
   --enable-FEATURE[=ARG]  include FEATURE [ARG=yes]
   --enable-lvm1_fallback  Use this to fall back and use LVM1 binaries if
                           device-mapper is missing from the kernel
-  --enable-readline       Enable readline support
+  --disable-readline      Disable readline support
   --disable-realtime      Disable realtime clock support
   --enable-debug          Enable debugging
   --enable-profiling      Gather gcov profiling data
@@ -8509,7 +8509,7 @@ echo $ECHO_N "checking whether to enable readline... $ECHO_C" >&6; }
 if test "${enable_readline+set}" = set; then
   enableval=$enable_readline; READLINE=$enableval
 else
-  READLINE=no
+  READLINE=yes
 fi
 
 { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: $READLINE" >&5
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 6496506bf..43f7dca86 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -269,11 +269,11 @@ if test x$MIRRORS = xinternal; then
 fi
 
 ################################################################################
-dnl -- Enable readline
+dnl -- Disable readline
 AC_MSG_CHECKING(whether to enable readline)
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([readline],
-  [  --enable-readline       Enable readline support],
-  [READLINE=$enableval], [READLINE=no])
+  [  --disable-readline      Disable readline support],
+  [READLINE=$enableval], [READLINE=yes])
 AC_MSG_RESULT($READLINE)
 
 ################################################################################