diff --git a/config b/config
index a7a737445..3eb2105cb 100644
--- a/config
+++ b/config
@@ -93,6 +93,24 @@ fi
 # linker errors, so disable it here.
 CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -DSERF_HTTPS_FETCHING=0 $FLAG_MARCH"
 
+case "$NGX_GCC_VER" in
+  4.8*)
+    # On GCC 4.8 and above, -Wall enables -Wunused-local-typedefs.  This breaks
+    # on VerifySizesAreEqual in bit_cast in chromium/src/base/basictypes.h which
+    # has a typedef that is intentionally unused.
+    CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -Wno-unused-local-typedefs"
+
+    # On GCC 4.8 and above, we get the following compiler warning:
+    # chromium/src/base/memory/scoped_ptr.h:133:7: warning: declaration of ‘class scoped_ptr<C>’ [enabled by default]
+    # Based on discussion at http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=54055,
+    # this is invalid code, but hasn't been fixed yet in chromium.
+    # Unfortunately, there also does not appear to be a flag for just disabling
+    # that warning, so we add Wno-error to override nginx's default -Werror
+    # option.
+    CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -Wno-error"
+  ;;
+esac
+
 pagespeed_include="\
   $mod_pagespeed_dir \
   $mod_pagespeed_dir/third_party/chromium/src \
diff --git a/src/ngx_thread_system.cc b/src/ngx_thread_system.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a5f3ca50e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ngx_thread_system.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2013 Google Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+// Author: jefftk@google.com (Jeff Kaufman)
+
+#include "ngx_thread_system.h"
+
+#include "apr_thread_proc.h"
+
+namespace net_instaweb {
+
+class Timer;
+
+NgxThreadSystem::NgxThreadSystem() : may_start_threads_(false) {}
+
+NgxThreadSystem::~NgxThreadSystem() {}
+
+void NgxThreadSystem::PermitThreadStarting() {
+  DCHECK(!may_start_threads_);
+  may_start_threads_ = true;
+}
+
+void NgxThreadSystem::BeforeThreadRunHook() {
+  // We disable all signals here, since the nginx worker process is expecting to
+  // catch them and pagespeed doesn't use signals.
+  apr_setup_signal_thread();
+
+  // If this fails you can get a backtrace from gdb by setting a breakpoint on
+  // "pthread_create".
+  DCHECK(may_start_threads_);
+}
+
+}  // namespace net_instaweb