diff --git a/src/Makefile.global.in b/src/Makefile.global.in
index e3ea7f21a7..df191709b2 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.global.in
+++ b/src/Makefile.global.in
@@ -1020,6 +1020,21 @@ endif # enable_coverage
 # LLVM support
 #
 
+# Don't try to build llvm bitcode if the clang used when Pg itself was built
+# can no longer be found. This is possible when this Makefile.global is
+# installed via a -devel package that doesn't have a hard dependency on clang,
+# particularly for enterprise distros that may use a newer clang for builds.
+ifeq ($(with_llvm),yes)
+# Only override setting made by Makefile.global defaults not on cmdline etc
+ifeq ($(origin with_llvm),file)
+ifeq ($(wildcard $(CLANG)),)
+$(warning disabling llvm bitcode generation: $$(CLANG) = $(CLANG) not found)
+with_llvm = no
+endif
+endif
+endif
+
 ifndef COMPILE.c.bc
 # -Wno-ignored-attributes added so gnu_printf doesn't trigger
 # warnings, when the main binary is compiled with C.