diff --git a/m4/moo-flags.m4 b/m4/moo-flags.m4
index 222a7324..43fba9a1 100644
--- a/m4/moo-flags.m4
+++ b/m4/moo-flags.m4
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ AC_DEFUN_ONCE([MOO_AC_FLAGS],[
   MOO_AC_PYTHON
   dnl must be called after MOO_AC_PYTHON
   MOO_AC_LIB
+  MOO_AC_TOOLS([$1])
 
   MOO_ENABLE_GENERATED_FILES="yes"
   AC_ARG_ENABLE(generated-files,
@@ -83,6 +84,11 @@ AC_DEFUN_ONCE([MOO_AC_FLAGS],[
     MOO_CFLAGS="$MOO_CFLAGS -DWIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN -DUNICODE"
     MOO_WIN32_CFLAGS="-I$moo_top_src_dir/$1/mooutils/moowin32/mingw"
     AC_DEFINE(HAVE_MMAP, [1], [using fake mmap on windows])
+
+    # gettimeofday is present in recent mingw
+    AC_CHECK_FUNC(gettimeofday,[:],[
+      MOO_WIN32_CFLAGS="$MOO_WIN32_CFLAGS -I$moo_top_src_dir/$1/mooutils/moowin32/ms"
+    ])
   fi
 
   ################################################################################
diff --git a/m4/moo-tools.m4 b/m4/moo-tools.m4
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2a54e223
--- /dev/null
+++ b/m4/moo-tools.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+AC_DEFUN_ONCE([MOO_AC_TOOLS],[
+  moo_srcdir=`cd $srcdir && pwd`
+  moo_srcdir="$moo_srcdir/$1"
+  AC_SUBST(moo_srcdir)
+
+  MOO_XML2H="$moo_srcdir/mooutils/xml2h.sh"
+  AC_SUBST(MOO_XML2H)
+])
diff --git a/medit/Makefile.am b/medit/Makefile.am
index 08327de3..60b8b6f4 100644
--- a/medit/Makefile.am
+++ b/medit/Makefile.am
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ EXTRA_DIST =
 CLEANFILES =
 include ../mk/rc.mk
 
-XML2H = $(srcdir)/../moo/mooutils/xml2h.sh
 medit-credits.h: ../THANKS $(XML2H)
 	$(SHELL) $(XML2H) THANKS $(srcdir)/../THANKS > $@.tmp && \
 	mv $@.tmp $(srcdir)/medit-credits.h
diff --git a/mk/glade.mk b/mk/glade.mk
index 9542a369..c465c880 100644
--- a/mk/glade.mk
+++ b/mk/glade.mk
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 # $(glade_files) should be a list of glade files
 # $(glade_sources) is defined to be a list of generated *-glade.h files
 
-%-glade.h: glade/%.glade $(top_srcdir)/moo/mooutils/xml2h.sh
-	$(SHELL) $(top_srcdir)/moo/mooutils/xml2h.sh `basename "$*" | sed -e "s/-/_/"`_glade_xml $< > $@.tmp && mv $@.tmp $@
-%-glade.h: %.glade $(top_srcdir)/moo/mooutils/xml2h.sh
-	$(SHELL) $(top_srcdir)/moo/mooutils/xml2h.sh `basename "$*" | sed -e "s/-/_/"`_glade_xml $< > $@.tmp && mv $@.tmp $@
+%-glade.h: glade/%.glade $(MOO_XML2H)
+	$(SHELL) $(MOO_XML2H) `basename "$*" | sed -e "s/-/_/"`_glade_xml $< > $@.tmp && mv $@.tmp $@
+%-glade.h: %.glade $(MOO_XML2H)
+	$(SHELL) $(MOO_XML2H) `basename "$*" | sed -e "s/-/_/"`_glade_xml $< > $@.tmp && mv $@.tmp $@
 
 # glade_sources = $(patsubst glade/%.glade,%-glade.h,$(glade_files))
 glade_sources = $(patsubst %.glade,%-glade.h,$(patsubst glade/%.glade,%-glade.h,$(glade_files)))
diff --git a/mk/ui.mk b/mk/ui.mk
index d0b4b941..c2e3a1a2 100644
--- a/mk/ui.mk
+++ b/mk/ui.mk
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 # $(ui_files) should be a list of ui xml files
 # $(ui_sources) is defined to be a list of generated *-ui.h files
 
-%-ui.h: %.ui $(top_srcdir)/moo/mooutils/xml2h.sh
-	$(SHELL) $(top_srcdir)/moo/mooutils/xml2h.sh `basename "$*" | sed -e "s/-/_/"`_ui_xml $< > $@.tmp && mv $@.tmp $@
+%-ui.h: %.ui $(MOO_XML2H)
+	$(SHELL) $(MOO_XML2H) `basename "$*" | sed -e "s/-/_/"`_ui_xml $< > $@.tmp && mv $@.tmp $@
 
 ui_sources = $(patsubst %.ui,%-ui.h,$(ui_files))
 BUILT_SOURCES += $(ui_sources)
diff --git a/moo/mooedit/plugins/activestrings/Makefile.am b/moo/mooedit/plugins/activestrings/Makefile.am
index ee517169..20584ffa 100644
--- a/moo/mooedit/plugins/activestrings/Makefile.am
+++ b/moo/mooedit/plugins/activestrings/Makefile.am
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ astrings_sources =		\
 BUILT_SOURCES =			\
 	as-plugin-glade.h
 
-XML2H = $(srcdir)/../../../mooutils/xml2h.sh
 as-plugin-glade.h: as-plugin.glade $(XML2H)
 	$(SHELL) $(XML2H) AS_PLUGIN_GLADE_UI $(srcdir)/as-plugin.glade > $@.tmp && \
 	mv $@.tmp $@
diff --git a/moo/mooedit/plugins/completion/Makefile.am b/moo/mooedit/plugins/completion/Makefile.am
index 3fb86bf8..9e6a89ad 100644
--- a/moo/mooedit/plugins/completion/Makefile.am
+++ b/moo/mooedit/plugins/completion/Makefile.am
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ completion_sources =		\
 BUILT_SOURCES =			\
 	completion-glade.h
 
-XML2H = $(srcdir)/../../../mooutils/xml2h.sh
 completion-glade.h: completion.glade $(XML2H)
 	$(SHELL) $(XML2H) COMPLETION_PLUGIN_GLADE_XML $(srcdir)/completion.glade > $@.tmp && \
 	mv $@.tmp $@