diff --git a/src/mu-util.c b/src/mu-util.c
index e4fd04ef..214f477e 100644
--- a/src/mu-util.c
+++ b/src/mu-util.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*
+/* 
 ** Copyright (C) 2010 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
 **
 ** This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -22,12 +22,14 @@
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <locale.h> /* for setlocale() */
 
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
+#include <glib-object.h>
 #include <glib/gstdio.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 
@@ -66,6 +68,28 @@ mu_util_dir_expand (const char *path)
 	return dir;
 }
 
+gboolean
+mu_util_init_system (void)
+{
+	/* without setlocale, non-ascii cmdline params (like search
+	 * terms) won't work */
+	setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
+
+	/* on FreeBSD, it seems g_slice_new and friends lead to
+	 * segfaults. So we shut if off */
+#ifdef 	__FreeBSD__
+	if (!g_setenv ("G_SLICE", "always-malloc", TRUE)) {
+		g_critical ("cannot set G_SLICE");
+		return FALSE;
+	}
+	MU_LOG_FILE("setting G_SLICE to always-malloc");
+#endif /*__FreeBSD__*/
+
+	g_type_init ();
+
+	return TRUE;
+}
+
 
 gboolean
 mu_util_check_dir (const gchar* path, gboolean readable, gboolean writeable)
diff --git a/src/mu-util.h b/src/mu-util.h
index 86e9bc47..7fbf9ca4 100644
--- a/src/mu-util.h
+++ b/src/mu-util.h
@@ -24,6 +24,14 @@
 
 G_BEGIN_DECLS
 
+/** 
+ * do system-specific initialization. should be called before anything
+ * else. Initializes the locale and Gtype
+ * 
+ * @return TRUE if is succeeds, FALSE otherwise
+ */
+gboolean mu_util_init_system (void);
+
 /** 
  * get the expanded path; ie. perform shell expansion on the path
  *
diff --git a/src/mu.cc b/src/mu.cc
index 3c236e7a..1b56d23c 100644
--- a/src/mu.cc
+++ b/src/mu.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-b** Copyright (C) 2010 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
+** Copyright (C) 2010 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
 **
 ** This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 ** under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
@@ -20,10 +20,9 @@ b** Copyright (C) 2010 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
 #include <config.h>
 
 #include <glib.h>
-#include <glib-object.h>
 #include <stdio.h> /* for fileno() */
-#include <locale.h> /* for setlocale() */
 
+#include "mu-util.h"
 #include "mu-config.h"
 #include "mu-cmd.h"
 #include "mu-log.h"
@@ -48,18 +47,14 @@ init_log (MuConfigOptions *opts)
 	return rv;
 }
 
-
 int
 main (int argc, char *argv[])
 {
 	MuConfigOptions config;
 	gboolean rv;
 
-	/* without setlocale, non-ascii cmdline params (like search
-	 * terms) won't work */
-	setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
-	
-	g_type_init ();
+	if (!mu_util_init_system()) 
+		return 1;
 	
 	if (!mu_config_init (&config, &argc, &argv))
 		return 1;