diff --git a/clutter/Makefile.am b/clutter/Makefile.am
index fbea8920f..7a67ea57a 100644
--- a/clutter/Makefile.am
+++ b/clutter/Makefile.am
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS = \
 	$(CLUTTER_DEPRECATED_CFLAGS)		\
 	$(CLUTTER_DEBUG_CFLAGS)			\
 	$(CLUTTER_PROFILE_CFLAGS)		\
+	$(CLUTTER_HIDDEN_VISIBILITY_CFLAGS)	\
 	$(NULL)
 
 AM_CFLAGS = $(CLUTTER_CFLAGS) $(MAINTAINER_CFLAGS)
@@ -850,7 +851,6 @@ libclutter_@CLUTTER_API_VERSION@_la_LDFLAGS = \
 	$(CLUTTER_LINK_FLAGS) \
 	$(CLUTTER_LT_LDFLAGS) \
 	-export-dynamic \
-	-export-symbols-regex "^(clutter|cally).*" \
 	-rpath $(libdir) \
 	$(win32_resources_ldflag) \
 	$(NULL)
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 94322b56b..27e31c370 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -193,6 +193,36 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE([Bsymbolic],
 AS_IF([test "x$enable_Bsymbolic" = "xyes"], [CLUTTER_LINK_FLAGS=-Wl[,]-Bsymbolic-functions])
 AC_SUBST(CLUTTER_LINK_FLAGS)
 
+# Check for the visibility flags
+CLUTTER_HIDDEN_VISIBILITY_CFLAGS=""
+case "$host" in
+  *-*-mingw*)
+    dnl on mingw32 we do -fvisibility=hidden and __declspec(dllexport)
+    AC_DEFINE([_CLUTTER_EXTERN], [__attribute__((visibility("default"))) __declspec(dllexport) extern],
+              [defines how to decorate public symbols while building])
+    CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -fvisibility=hidden"
+    ;;
+  *)
+    dnl on other compilers, check if we can do -fvisibility=hidden
+    SAVED_CFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
+    CFLAGS="-fvisibility=hidden"
+    AC_MSG_CHECKING([for -fvisibility=hidden compiler flag])
+    AC_TRY_COMPILE([], [int main (void) { return 0; }],
+                   AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
+                   enable_fvisibility_hidden=yes,
+                   AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
+                   enable_fvisibility_hidden=no)
+    CFLAGS="${SAVED_CFLAGS}"
+
+    AS_IF([test "${enable_fvisibility_hidden}" = "yes"], [
+      AC_DEFINE([_CLUTTER_EXTERN], [__attribute__((visibility("default"))) extern],
+                [defines how to decorate public symbols while building])
+      CLUTTER_HIDDEN_VISIBILITY_CFLAGS="-fvisibility=hidden"
+    ])
+    ;;
+esac
+AC_SUBST(CLUTTER_HIDDEN_VISIBILITY_CFLAGS)
+
 AC_CACHE_SAVE
 
 dnl ========================================================================