diff --git a/src/aclocal.m4 b/src/aclocal.m4
index 1de1e92c5..28dce65ee 100644
--- a/src/aclocal.m4
+++ b/src/aclocal.m4
@@ -940,6 +940,10 @@ if test "${enable_boehm}" = auto -o "${enable_boehm}" = system; then
      AC_CHECK_HEADER([gc/gc.h],[ECL_BOEHM_GC_HEADER='gc/gc.h'],[system_boehm=no],[])
    fi
  fi
+ if test "${system_boehm}" = "yes"; then
+   AC_CHECK_LIB( [gc], [GC_set_start_callback],
+                 [AC_DEFINE(HAVE_GC_SET_START_CALLBACK)], [] )
+ fi
  AC_MSG_CHECKING( [whether we can use the existing Boehm-Weiser library] )
  AC_MSG_RESULT( [${system_boehm}] )
  if test "${system_boehm}" = "no"; then
diff --git a/src/c/alloc_2.d b/src/c/alloc_2.d
index 7bb4f52aa..5bc3572cd 100644
--- a/src/c/alloc_2.d
+++ b/src/c/alloc_2.d
@@ -31,6 +31,13 @@
 
 #ifdef GBC_BOEHM
 
+static void (*GC_old_start_callback)(void) = NULL;
+#ifdef HAVE_GC_START_CALLBACK
+extern void GC_set_start_callback(void *);
+extern void *GC_get_start_callback(void *);
+#else
+extern void *GC_start_call_back(void);
+#endif
 static void gather_statistics();
 static void ecl_mark_env(struct cl_env_struct *env);
 
@@ -750,7 +757,6 @@ ecl_dealloc(void *ptr)
 static int alloc_initialized = FALSE;
 
 extern void (*GC_push_other_roots)();
-extern void (*GC_start_call_back)();
 static void (*old_GC_push_other_roots)();
 static void stacks_scanner();
 
@@ -1090,7 +1096,13 @@ init_alloc(void)
 #endif /* GBC_BOEHM_PRECISE */
 	old_GC_push_other_roots = GC_push_other_roots;
 	GC_push_other_roots = stacks_scanner;
+#ifdef HAVE_GC_SET_START_CALLBACK
+	GC_old_start_callback = GC_get_start_callback();
+	GC_set_start_callback(gather_statistics);
+#else
+	GC_old_start_callback = GC_start_call_back;
 	GC_start_call_back = (void (*)())gather_statistics;
+#endif
 	GC_java_finalization = 1;
         GC_oom_fn = out_of_memory;
         GC_set_warn_proc(no_warnings);
@@ -1198,7 +1210,7 @@ si_set_finalizer(cl_object o, cl_object finalizer)
 /* If we do not build our own version of the library, we do not have
  * control over the existence of this variable.
  */
-#if 1 /*GBC_BOEHM == 0*/
+#if GBC_BOEHM == 0
 extern int GC_print_stats;
 #else
 static int GC_print_stats;
@@ -1277,6 +1289,8 @@ gather_statistics()
 			   cl_core.gc_counter->big.big_num,
 			   1);
 	}
+	if (GC_old_start_callback)
+		GC_old_start_callback();
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/h/config.h.in b/src/h/config.h.in
index 5dc851f42..f6b6b8daf 100644
--- a/src/h/config.h.in
+++ b/src/h/config.h.in
@@ -308,6 +308,9 @@ typedef unsigned char ecl_base_char;
 #define ECL_WEAK_HASH
 #endif
 
+/* GC_set_start_callback						*/
+#define HAVE_GC_SET_START_CALLBACK
+
 /*
  * SYSTEM FEATURES:
  */