diff --git a/src/core/util.c b/src/core/util.c
index ea26bc2f0..fddd06fdd 100644
--- a/src/core/util.c
+++ b/src/core/util.c
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ static const GDebugKey meta_debug_keys[] = {
 static gint verbose_topics = 0;
 static gboolean is_wayland_compositor = FALSE;
 static int debug_paint_flags = 0;
+static GLogLevelFlags mutter_log_level = G_LOG_LEVEL_MESSAGE;
 
 #ifdef WITH_VERBOSE_MODE
 static FILE* logfile = NULL;
@@ -213,6 +214,9 @@ meta_init_debug_utils (void)
                                      G_N_ELEMENTS (meta_debug_keys));
       meta_add_verbose_topic (topics);
     }
+
+  if (g_test_initialized ())
+    mutter_log_level = G_LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG;
 }
 
 gboolean
@@ -584,3 +588,13 @@ meta_get_debug_paint_flags (void)
 {
   return debug_paint_flags;
 }
+
+void
+meta_log (const char *format, ...)
+{
+  va_list args;
+
+  va_start (args, format);
+  g_logv (G_LOG_DOMAIN, mutter_log_level, format, args);
+  va_end (args);
+}
diff --git a/src/meta/util.h b/src/meta/util.h
index d61fa85d8..bb2e875c1 100644
--- a/src/meta/util.h
+++ b/src/meta/util.h
@@ -157,6 +157,9 @@ char* meta_g_utf8_strndup (const gchar *src, gsize n);
 
 const char * meta_topic_to_string (MetaDebugTopic topic);
 
+META_EXPORT
+void meta_log (const char *format, ...) G_GNUC_PRINTF (1, 2);
+
 #define meta_topic(debug_topic, ...) \
   G_STMT_START \
     { \
@@ -165,7 +168,7 @@ const char * meta_topic_to_string (MetaDebugTopic topic);
           g_autofree char *_topic_message = NULL; \
 \
           _topic_message = g_strdup_printf (__VA_ARGS__); \
-          g_message ("%s: %s", meta_topic_to_string (debug_topic), \
+          meta_log ("%s: %s", meta_topic_to_string (debug_topic), \
                      _topic_message); \
         } \
     } \