diff --git a/makepanda/makepanda.py b/makepanda/makepanda.py
index 3251c3272a..3341262452 100755
--- a/makepanda/makepanda.py
+++ b/makepanda/makepanda.py
@@ -905,13 +905,14 @@ if (COMPILER=="GCC"):
     fcollada_libs = ("FColladaD", "FColladaSD", "FColladaS")
     # WARNING! The order of the ffmpeg libraries matters!
     ffmpeg_libs = ("libavformat", "libavcodec", "libavutil")
+    assimp_libs = ("libassimp", "libassimpd")
 
     #         Name         pkg-config   libs, include(dir)s
     if (not RUNTIME):
         SmartPkgEnable("EIGEN",     "eigen3",    (), ("Eigen/Dense",), target_pkg = 'ALWAYS')
         SmartPkgEnable("ARTOOLKIT", "",          ("AR"), "AR/ar.h")
         SmartPkgEnable("FCOLLADA",  "",          ChooseLib(fcollada_libs, "FCOLLADA"), ("FCollada", "FCollada/FCollada.h"))
-        SmartPkgEnable("ASSIMP",    "assimp",    ("assimp"), "assimp/Importer.hpp")
+        SmartPkgEnable("ASSIMP",    "assimp",    ChooseLib(assimp_libs, "ASSIMP"), "assimp/Importer.hpp")
         SmartPkgEnable("FFMPEG",    ffmpeg_libs, ffmpeg_libs, ("libavformat/avformat.h", "libavcodec/avcodec.h", "libavutil/avutil.h"))
         SmartPkgEnable("SWSCALE",   "libswscale", "libswscale", ("libswscale/swscale.h"), target_pkg = "FFMPEG", thirdparty_dir = "ffmpeg")
         SmartPkgEnable("SWRESAMPLE","libswresample", "libswresample", ("libswresample/swresample.h"), target_pkg = "FFMPEG", thirdparty_dir = "ffmpeg")