diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ad7bb83..3e8cf18 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -60,5 +60,11 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE([sse],
               fi]
 )
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([valgrind],
+            [AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-valgrind], [run tests with valgrind])],
+            [],
+            [enable_valgrind=no])
+AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_VALGRIND, test "x$enable_valgrind" != xno)
+
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile src/Makefile tools/Makefile test/Makefile examples/Makefile])
 AC_OUTPUT
diff --git a/tools/Makefile.am b/tools/Makefile.am
index eb27d4a..8c4b1ce 100644
--- a/tools/Makefile.am
+++ b/tools/Makefile.am
@@ -33,9 +33,13 @@ gf_inline_time_SOURCES = gf_inline_time.c
 #gf_inline_time_LDFLAGS = -lgf_complete
 gf_inline_time_LDADD = ../src/libgf_complete.la
 
+if ENABLE_VALGRIND
+VALGRIND = | sed -e 's|^|../libtool --mode=execute valgrind --quiet --error-exitcode=1 --tool=memcheck |'
+endif
+
 # gf_unit tests as generated by gf_methods
 gf_unit_w%.sh: gf_methods
-	./$^ $(@:gf_unit_w%.sh=%) -A -U > $@ || rm $@
+	./$^ $(@:gf_unit_w%.sh=%) -A -U ${VALGRIND} > $@ || rm $@
 
 TESTS = gf_unit_w128.sh \
         gf_unit_w64.sh  \