diff --git a/bin/vlc.c b/bin/vlc.c
index 3a15722d77..5220618e07 100644
--- a/bin/vlc.c
+++ b/bin/vlc.c
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <locale.h>
-
+#ifdef HAVE_X11_XLIB_H
+# include <X11/Xlib.h>
+#endif
 
 /* Explicit HACK */
 extern void LocaleFree (const char *);
@@ -82,6 +84,15 @@ int main( int i_argc, const char *ppsz_argv[] )
 #   endif
 #endif
 
+#ifdef HAVE_X11_XLIB_H
+    /* Initialize Xlib thread support. */
+    if (!XInitThreads ())
+    {
+        fputs ("VLC requires a thread-safe Xlib. Sorry.\n", stderr);
+        return 1;
+    }
+#endif
+
     /* Synchronously intercepted POSIX signals.
      *
      * In a threaded program such as VLC, the only sane way to handle signals
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8e34d40162..568932b7c2 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -3964,6 +3964,9 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(x11,
 
 CPPFLAGS="${CPPFLAGS_save} ${X_CFLAGS}"
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(X11/Xlib.h, [
+  VLC_ADD_CPPFLAGS([vlc], [${X_CFLAGS}])
+  VLC_ADD_LIBS([vlc], [${X_LIBS} ${X_PRE_LIBS} -lX11])
+
   VLC_ADD_PLUGIN([screen])
   VLC_ADD_CPPFLAGS([screen],[${X_CFLAGS}])
   VLC_ADD_LIBS([screen],[${X_LIBS} ${X_PRE_LIBS} -lX11])