diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2eb6c11a098cbe9527a2cbc183cf11ff109a34b5..96dbca52569a2ab36c43cb243a3c9f6c3f5572f3 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ fi
 dnl ==========================================================================
 
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GLIB, glib-2.0 >= 2.16, have_glib=true, have_glib=false)
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTHREAD, gthread-2.0, , have_glib=false)
 if $have_glib; then
 	AC_DEFINE(HAVE_GLIB, 1, [Have glib2 library])
 fi
diff --git a/test/Makefile.am b/test/Makefile.am
index cc4519c667a2ac909c20e65405578b27972aa6d0..e58a91a39c827e135717876f0f0173a0f09e9845 100644
--- a/test/Makefile.am
+++ b/test/Makefile.am
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ include Makefile.decl
 NULL =
 
 if HAVE_GLIB
-AM_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/src/ $(GLIB_CFLAGS)
-LDADD = $(top_builddir)/src/libharfbuzz.la $(GLIB_LIBS)
+AM_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/src/ $(GLIB_CFLAGS) $(GTHREAD_CFLAGS)
+LDADD = $(top_builddir)/src/libharfbuzz.la $(GLIB_LIBS) $(GTHREAD_LIBS)
 
 EXTRA_DIST += hb-test.h
 
diff --git a/test/hb-test.h b/test/hb-test.h
index 5f72a052e79d7ba587fa2b15c7c3e99b56f2ef1f..938b700a84f6640d6645fc5526e8debf37bd121b 100644
--- a/test/hb-test.h
+++ b/test/hb-test.h
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ HB_BEGIN_DECLS
 static inline void
 hb_test_init (int *argc, char ***argv)
 {
+  g_thread_init (NULL);
   g_test_init (argc, argv, NULL);
 }