diff --git a/cogl/cogl.c b/cogl/cogl.c
index 6ab38c5ab..5fd63fc93 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl.c
@@ -793,9 +793,9 @@ _cogl_error_quark (void)
 void
 _cogl_init (void)
 {
-  static size_t init_status = 0;
+  static CoglBool initialized = FALSE;
 
-  if (g_once_init_enter (&init_status))
+  if (initialized == FALSE)
     {
       bindtextdomain (GETTEXT_PACKAGE, COGL_LOCALEDIR);
       bind_textdomain_codeset (GETTEXT_PACKAGE, "UTF-8");
@@ -804,7 +804,7 @@ _cogl_init (void)
 
       _cogl_config_read ();
       _cogl_debug_check_environment ();
-      g_once_init_leave (&init_status, 1);
+      initialized = TRUE;
     }
 }