diff --git a/CHANGES/v2.4.md b/CHANGES/v2.4.md
index f787d96445862e1525181f4db38002e9235f72ca..3ed71de25af5f15b8b0e6b925185370b13e9ff60 100644
--- a/CHANGES/v2.4.md
+++ b/CHANGES/v2.4.md
@@ -186,6 +186,8 @@ For users:
     are expected to work correctly. See \issue{254}.
   - GROMACS patch for gromacs-2018.1.
   - \ref VimSyntax now highlights `__FILL__` strings.
+  - \ref METAD and \ref PBMETAD give a warning when one restarts a simulation and the old hills file is not found. See \issue{366}.
 
 For developers:
+  - `LDSHARED` is now correctly taken into account when launching `./configure`.
   - Cppcheck upgraded to 1.84.
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 74e7c4aacbb17a72fe24bd1087dffe8ce3351938..e452391b59ffe0d9b9fee45bd585fdd14c165cde 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -4371,7 +4371,11 @@ ac_compiler_gnu=$ac_cv_cxx_compiler_gnu
 
 # log the initial flags
 LD="$CXX"
-LDSHARED="$CXX"
+
+if test -z "$LDSHARED" ; then
+  LDSHARED="$CXX"
+fi
+
 { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: Initial CXX:         $CXX" >&5
 $as_echo "$as_me: Initial CXX:         $CXX" >&6;}
 { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: Initial CXXFLAGS:    $CXXFLAGS" >&5
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 3851937aedaec929a39714c95073642d0f50854e..8fbb041bb8833a47aebd700b4ee3318f9617baf9 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -310,7 +310,11 @@ AC_LANG(C++)
 
 # log the initial flags
 LD="$CXX"
-LDSHARED="$CXX"
+
+if test -z "$LDSHARED" ; then
+  LDSHARED="$CXX"
+fi
+
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([Initial CXX:         $CXX])
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([Initial CXXFLAGS:    $CXXFLAGS])
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([Initial CPPFLAGS:    $CPPFLAGS])
diff --git a/src/bias/MetaD.cpp b/src/bias/MetaD.cpp
index 95f843fdb4dde582803abd7e6c2c519fdfcd8db8..a27c38859e17c6b438fe4fb480fc0132fa13acaf 100644
--- a/src/bias/MetaD.cpp
+++ b/src/bias/MetaD.cpp
@@ -1070,6 +1070,9 @@ MetaD::MetaD(const ActionOptions& ao):
       ifiles[i]->reset(false);
       // close only the walker own hills file for later writing
       if(i==mw_id_) ifiles[i]->close();
+    } else {
+      // in case a file does not exist and we are restarting, complain that the file was not found
+      if(getRestart()) log<<"  WARNING: restart file "<<fname<<" not found\n";
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/bias/PBMetaD.cpp b/src/bias/PBMetaD.cpp
index 6761be58a255995a827a2f1fc41aee10fe9a8581..bade31c3bf771c2eb1b89ced2a1a1ace0d2bf47e 100644
--- a/src/bias/PBMetaD.cpp
+++ b/src/bias/PBMetaD.cpp
@@ -701,6 +701,9 @@ PBMetaD::PBMetaD(const ActionOptions& ao):
         ifiles[k]->reset(false);
         // close only the walker own hills file for later writing
         if(j==mw_id_) ifiles[k]->close();
+      } else {
+        // in case a file does not exist and we are restarting, complain that the file was not found
+        if(getRestart()) log<<"  WARNING: restart file "<<fname<<" not found\n";
       }
     }
   }