diff --git a/config/configure.in.in b/config/configure.in.in
index a9bb8adf..49fdb2e5 100644
--- a/config/configure.in.in
+++ b/config/configure.in.in
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 config CONFIGURE_has_static_link
     @KCONFIG_static_link@
 
+config CONFIGURE_has_lzip
+    @KCONFIG_lzip@
+
 config CONFIGURE_has_wget
     @KCONFIG_wget@
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 729047d3..dddbd27e 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -122,13 +122,24 @@ CTNG_CHECK_PROGS_REQ([readlink], [readlink])
 CTNG_CHECK_PROGS_REQ([tar], [tar])
 CTNG_CHECK_PROGS_REQ([gzip], [gzip])
 CTNG_CHECK_PROGS_REQ([bzip2], [bzip2])
-CTNG_CHECK_PROGS_REQ([lzip], [lzip])
 CTNG_CHECK_PROGS_REQ([xz], [xz])
 CTNG_CHECK_PROGS_REQ([unzip], [unzip])
 CTNG_CHECK_PROGS_REQ([help2man], [help2man])
 CTNG_CHECK_PROGS_REQ([file], [file])
 CTNG_CHECK_PROGS_REQ([which], [which])
 
+# Lzip is optional; all the packages that provide tarballs in .tar.lz format
+# also provide them in some other format. All other formats are currently
+# mandatory as there is at least one package that has no fallback for each
+# of them.
+# FIXME: this configure.ac should be only used for detecting the dependencies
+# of the ct-ng framework itself; anything needed at build time should be
+# determined by crosstool-NG.sh - perhaps, through another 'configure' that
+# runs during `ct-ng build`.
+AC_CHECK_PROGS([lzip], [lzip])
+CTNG_SET_KCONFIG_OPTION([lzip])
+AC_SUBST([lzip])
+
 # Not a fatal failure even if we have neither - the tarballs may
 # be provided in a local directory.
 AC_CHECK_PROGS([wget], [wget])
diff --git a/scripts/functions b/scripts/functions
index fecdad2e..09df03af 100644
--- a/scripts/functions
+++ b/scripts/functions
@@ -669,7 +669,9 @@ CT_DoListTarballExt()
 {
     printf ".tar.xz\n"
     printf ".tar.lzma\n"
-    printf ".tar.lz\n"
+    if [ "${CT_CONFIGURE_has_lzip}" = "y" ]; then
+        printf ".tar.lz\n"
+    fi
     printf ".tar.bz2\n"
     printf ".tar.gz\n.tgz\n"
     printf ".tar\n"
@@ -2074,6 +2076,7 @@ CT_PackageRun()
 CT_DoFetch()
 {
     local tmp_dir
+    local extensions e a
 
     if [ "${src_release}" = "y" ]; then
         # Some packages do not contain any directory level at all
@@ -2083,8 +2086,17 @@ CT_DoFetch()
             basename="${pkg_name}-${version}"
         fi
         pkg_dir="${pkg_name}/${version}"
+        # Check which extensions we are allowed to fetch
+        for a in ${archive_formats}; do
+            for e in $(CT_DoListTarballExt); do
+                if [ "${a}" = "${e}" ]; then
+                    extensions="${extensions} ${a}"
+                    break
+                fi
+            done
+        done
         if ! CT_GetFile package="${pkg_name}" pkg_dir="${pkg_dir}" dir_name="${dir_name}" \
-                basename="${archive_filename}" extensions="${archive_formats}" \
+                basename="${archive_filename}" extensions="${extensions}" \
                 digest="${CT_VERIFY_DOWNLOAD_DIGEST}" \
                 signature_format="${CT_VERIFY_DOWNLOAD_SIGNATURE:+${signature_format}}" \
                 mirrors="${mirrors}"; then