diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libconfig/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libconfig/package.py
index 540cdd01880..1e2de612680 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libconfig/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libconfig/package.py
@@ -13,10 +13,13 @@ class Libconfig(AutotoolsPackage):
     url      = "https://github.com/hyperrealm/libconfig/archive/v1.5.tar.gz"
 
     force_autoreconf = True
+
+    version('1.7.1',
+        sha256='d288e6ae817f4ef78df43cdb2647f768dc97899ee82fcc41f857e8eb9fd7fbdb')    
     # there is currently a build error with version 1.6, see:
     # https://github.com/hyperrealm/libconfig/issues/47
     # version('1.6', '2ccd24b6a2ee39f7ff8a3badfafb6539')
-    version('1.5', 'e92a91c2ddf3bf77bea0f5ed7f09e492', preferred=True)
+    version('1.5', 'e92a91c2ddf3bf77bea0f5ed7f09e492')
 
     depends_on('m4', type=('build'))
     depends_on('autoconf', type=('build'))