diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index c40c90ce2..6b66b64d5 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -326,9 +326,8 @@ def defineBuildTargets(env, artifacts):
         setup sub-environments with special build options if necessary.
         We use a custom function to declare a whole tree of srcfiles. 
     """
-    env.mergeConf(['glibmm-2.4','gthread-2.0'])
     
-    # use PCH to speed up building
+    # use PCH to speed up building // disabled for now due to strange failures
 #   env['GCH'] = ( env.PrecompiledHeader('$SRCDIR/pre.hpp')
 #                + env.PrecompiledHeader('$SRCDIR/pre_a.hpp')
 #                )
@@ -360,7 +359,7 @@ def defineBuildTargets(env, artifacts):
     
     # the Lumiera GTK GUI
     envGtk = env.Clone()
-    envGtk.mergeConf(['gtkmm-2.4','cairomm-1.0','gdl','xv','xext','sm'])
+    envGtk.mergeConf(['gtkmm-2.4','gthread-2.0','cairomm-1.0','gdl','xv','xext','sm'])
     envGtk.Append(CPPDEFINES='LUMIERA_PLUGIN', LIBS=core)
     
     objgui  = srcSubtree(envGtk,'$SRCDIR/gui')
diff --git a/src/tool/rsvg-convert.c b/src/tool/rsvg-convert.c
index 655a25720..d8216e608 100644
--- a/src/tool/rsvg-convert.c
+++ b/src/tool/rsvg-convert.c
@@ -129,8 +129,6 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
 	/* Set the locale so that UTF-8 filenames work */
 	setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
 
-	g_thread_init(NULL);
-
     g_option_context = g_option_context_new (_("- SVG Converter"));
     g_option_context_add_main_entries (g_option_context, options_table, NULL);
     g_option_context_set_help_enabled (g_option_context, TRUE);