diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 649cfb819f6fc3f0164bac8d3c8b11aee6f0827f..9577d6fc734de9912c4099758f2f68b2ae86c57b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -90,6 +90,8 @@ all::
 #
 # Define NO_MMAP if you want to avoid mmap.
 #
+# Define NO_PTHREADS if you do not have or do not want to use Pthreads.
+#
 # Define NO_PREAD if you have a problem with pread() system call (e.g.
 # cygwin.dll before v1.5.22).
 #
@@ -164,6 +166,7 @@ uname_M := $(shell sh -c 'uname -m 2>/dev/null || echo not')
 uname_O := $(shell sh -c 'uname -o 2>/dev/null || echo not')
 uname_R := $(shell sh -c 'uname -r 2>/dev/null || echo not')
 uname_P := $(shell sh -c 'uname -p 2>/dev/null || echo not')
+uname_V := $(shell sh -c 'uname -v 2>/dev/null || echo not')
 
 # CFLAGS and LDFLAGS are for the users to override from the command line.
 
@@ -722,6 +725,11 @@ ifeq ($(uname_S),AIX)
 	INTERNAL_QSORT = UnfortunatelyYes
 	NEEDS_LIBICONV=YesPlease
 	BASIC_CFLAGS += -D_LARGE_FILES
+	ifneq ($(shell expr "$(uname_V)" : '[1234]'),1)
+		THREADED_DELTA_SEARCH = YesPlease
+	else
+		NO_PTHREADS = YesPlease
+	endif
 endif
 ifeq ($(uname_S),GNU)
 	# GNU/Hurd
@@ -766,6 +774,7 @@ ifneq (,$(findstring MINGW,$(uname_S)))
 	NO_STRCASESTR = YesPlease
 	NO_STRLCPY = YesPlease
 	NO_MEMMEM = YesPlease
+	NO_PTHREADS = YesPlease
 	NEEDS_LIBICONV = YesPlease
 	OLD_ICONV = YesPlease
 	NO_C99_FORMAT = YesPlease
@@ -1017,9 +1026,15 @@ ifdef INTERNAL_QSORT
 	COMPAT_OBJS += compat/qsort.o
 endif
 
+ifdef NO_PTHREADS
+	THREADED_DELTA_SEARCH =
+	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DNO_PTHREADS
+else
+	EXTLIBS += $(PTHREAD_LIBS)
+endif
+
 ifdef THREADED_DELTA_SEARCH
 	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DTHREADED_DELTA_SEARCH
-	EXTLIBS += $(PTHREAD_LIBS)
 	LIB_OBJS += thread-utils.o
 endif
 ifdef DIR_HAS_BSD_GROUP_SEMANTICS
diff --git a/config.mak.in b/config.mak.in
index ea7705c1edb6040a900159077a60e129e03a5de1..14dfb21fa59efb7482ea0727845c8198cc996271 100644
--- a/config.mak.in
+++ b/config.mak.in
@@ -51,4 +51,5 @@ OLD_ICONV=@OLD_ICONV@
 NO_DEFLATE_BOUND=@NO_DEFLATE_BOUND@
 FREAD_READS_DIRECTORIES=@FREAD_READS_DIRECTORIES@
 SNPRINTF_RETURNS_BOGUS=@SNPRINTF_RETURNS_BOGUS@
+NO_PTHREADS=@NO_PTHREADS@
 PTHREAD_LIBS=@PTHREAD_LIBS@
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 42567420e0b6ab01bc0a905b61c3fd7939f800f9..8821b5080af2eb3ec8cabd3ae40ee20e10c80f2e 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -490,6 +490,8 @@ AC_SUBST(NO_MKDTEMP)
 # Define NO_SYMLINK_HEAD if you never want .git/HEAD to be a symbolic link.
 # Enable it on Windows.  By default, symrefs are still used.
 #
+# Define NO_PTHREADS if we do not have pthreads
+#
 # Define PTHREAD_LIBS to the linker flag used for Pthread support.
 AC_LANG_CONFTEST([AC_LANG_PROGRAM(
   [[#include <pthread.h>]],
@@ -502,9 +504,12 @@ else
  ${CC} -lpthread conftest.c -o conftest.o > /dev/null 2>&1
  if test $? -eq 0;then
   PTHREAD_LIBS="-lpthread"
+ else
+  NO_PTHREADS=UnfortunatelyYes
  fi
 fi
 AC_SUBST(PTHREAD_LIBS)
+AC_SUBST(NO_PTHREADS)
 
 ## Site configuration (override autodetection)
 ## --with-PACKAGE[=ARG] and --without-PACKAGE
diff --git a/preload-index.c b/preload-index.c
index a6855837a4b85e475d556527335d89c8b0e3a02c..88edc5f8a9d5384e19426e6adb40e08b34d3adf2 100644
--- a/preload-index.c
+++ b/preload-index.c
@@ -2,6 +2,14 @@
  * Copyright (C) 2008 Linus Torvalds
  */
 #include "cache.h"
+
+#ifdef NO_PTHREADS
+static void preload_index(struct index_state *index, const char **pathspec)
+{
+	; /* nothing */
+}
+#else
+
 #include <pthread.h>
 
 /*
@@ -81,6 +89,7 @@ static void preload_index(struct index_state *index, const char **pathspec)
 			die("unable to join threaded lstat");
 	}
 }
+#endif
 
 int read_index_preload(struct index_state *index, const char **pathspec)
 {