diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 36a83d43..2973b030 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2011-03-27  Enrico Tröger  <enrico(dot)troeger(at)uvena(dot)de>
+
+ * src/makefile.win32, src/main.c, src/Makefile.am, configure.ac,
+   wscript:
+   Initialize GLib's Gthread system early at startup in case any
+   plugins need it.
+
+
 2011-03-27  Colomban Wendling  <colomban(at)geany(dot)org>
 
  * plugins/splitwindow.c:
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8d7643a5..d6e89c2c 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -146,6 +146,11 @@ AC_SUBST(GIO_LIBS)
 if test $have_gio = 1 ; then
     AC_DEFINE(HAVE_GIO, 1, [Whether GIO is available])
 fi
+# GTHREAD checks
+gthread_modules="gthread-2.0"
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTHREAD, [$gthread_modules])
+AC_SUBST(GTHREAD_CFLAGS)
+AC_SUBST(GTHREAD_LIBS)
 
 # --disable-deprecated switch for GTK2 purification
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(deprecated, [  --disable-deprecated    Disable deprecated GTK functions. ],
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 6614bad5..4878f422 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ geany_include_HEADERS = \
 
 
 INCLUDES = -I$(top_srcdir) -I$(srcdir)/../scintilla/include -I$(srcdir)/../tagmanager/include \
-			-I$(topsrcdir)/tagmanager/mio @GTK_CFLAGS@ @GIO_CFLAGS@
+			-I$(topsrcdir)/tagmanager/mio @GTK_CFLAGS@ @GIO_CFLAGS@ @GTHREAD_CFLAGS@
 
 # tell automake we have a C++ file so it uses the C++ linker we need for Scintilla
 nodist_EXTRA_geany_SOURCES = dummy.cxx
@@ -86,7 +86,8 @@ if MINGW
 geany_SOURCES = $(SRCS) win32.c win32.h
 
 geany_LDADD = ../scintilla/libscintilla.a ../tagmanager/libtagmanager.a ../tagmanager/mio/libmio.a \
-				@GTK_LIBS@ @GIO_LIBS@ $(INTLLIBS) -lole32 -luuid -liberty -lwsock32 geany_private.res
+				@GTK_LIBS@ @GIO_LIBS@ @GTHREAD_LIBS@ $(INTLLIBS) -lole32 -luuid -liberty -lwsock32 \
+				geany_private.res
 
 AM_CFLAGS = -DGEANY_DATADIR=\"data\" \
 			-DGEANY_DOCDIR=\"\" \
@@ -113,7 +114,7 @@ else
 geany_SOURCES = $(SRCS) vte.c vte.h
 
 geany_LDADD = ../scintilla/libscintilla.a ../tagmanager/libtagmanager.a ../tagmanager/mio/libmio.a \
-				@GTK_LIBS@ @GIO_LIBS@ $(INTLLIBS)
+				@GTK_LIBS@ @GIO_LIBS@ @GTHREAD_LIBS@ $(INTLLIBS)
 
 AM_CFLAGS = -DGEANY_DATADIR=\""$(datadir)"\" \
 			-DGEANY_DOCDIR=\""$(docdir)"\" \
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index bd22ffa6..ba507e0b 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -480,7 +480,7 @@ static void print_filetypes(void)
 	foreach_slist(node, filetypes_by_title)
 	{
 		GeanyFiletype *ft = node->data;
-		
+
 		printf("%s\n", ft->name);
 	}
 	filetypes_free_types();
@@ -959,6 +959,11 @@ gint main(gint argc, gchar **argv)
 #endif
 	parse_command_line_options(&argc, &argv);
 
+    /* Initialize GLib's thread system in case any plugins want to use it or their
+     * dependencies (e.g. WebKit, Soup, ...) */
+	if (!g_thread_supported())
+		g_thread_init(NULL);
+
 	signal(SIGTERM, signal_cb);
 #ifdef G_OS_UNIX
 	/* SIGQUIT is used to kill spawned children and we get also this signal, so ignore */
diff --git a/src/makefile.win32 b/src/makefile.win32
index dd396f25..1e358a5f 100644
--- a/src/makefile.win32
+++ b/src/makefile.win32
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ INCLUDEDIRS=  -I.. \
 ALL_GTK_LIBS= \
 	-L"$(PREFIX)/lib" \
 	-lgtk-win32-2.0 -lgdk-win32-2.0 -latk-1.0 -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lpangowin32-1.0 -lgdi32 \
-	-lpango-1.0 -lgobject-2.0 -lgmodule-2.0 -lgthread-2.0 -lglib-2.0 -lintl
+	-lpango-1.0 -lgobject-2.0 -lgmodule-2.0 -lgthread-2.0 -lglib-2.0 -lgthread-2.0 -lintl
 	# these things are for GTK >= 2.8
 	# (should be same as with MSYS: pkg-config --libs gtk+-2.0 gthread-2.0)
 	#"$(PREFIX)/lib/libcairo.dll.a" \
diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index e064467c..8102de08 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -150,6 +150,7 @@ def configure(conf):
             have_gtk_210 = True
     else:
         gtk_version = 'Unknown'
+    conf.check_cfg(package='gthread-2.0', uselib_store='GTHREAD', args='--cflags --libs')
     conf.check_cfg(package='gio-2.0', uselib_store='GIO', args='--cflags --libs', mandatory=False)
 
     # Windows specials
@@ -332,7 +333,7 @@ def build(bld):
         source          = geany_sources,
         includes        = ['.', 'scintilla/include/', 'tagmanager/include/'],
         defines         = ['G_LOG_DOMAIN="Geany"', 'GEANY_PRIVATE'],
-        uselib          = ['GTK', 'GIO', 'WIN32', 'SUNOS_SOCKET'],
+        uselib          = ['GTK', 'GIO', 'GTHREAD', 'WIN32', 'SUNOS_SOCKET'],
         use             = ['scintilla', 'tagmanager', 'mio'])
 
     # geanyfunctions.h