diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 82cb0c712..cf087ef83 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Dependencies
 gcc - http://gcc.gnu.org/
 Any other C99 compliant compiler should also work.
 
-GLib 2.16 - http://www.gtk.org/
+GLib 2.12 - http://www.gtk.org/
 General-purpose utility library.
 
 
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index bc571c032..fa668f1bf 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ ver 0.16 (20??/??/??)
 * set the close-on-exec flag on all file descriptors
 * obey $(sysconfdir) for default mpd.conf location
 * build with large file support by default
-* require GLib 2.16
+* require GLib 2.12
 
 
 ver 0.15.6 (2009/??/??)
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8366a0a55..f7d6d6e0e 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -141,8 +141,8 @@ dnl
 dnl mandatory libraries
 dnl
 
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES([GLIB], [glib-2.0 >= 2.16 gthread-2.0],,
-		[AC_MSG_ERROR([glib-2.16 is required])])
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES([GLIB], [glib-2.0 >= 2.12 gthread-2.0],,
+		[AC_MSG_ERROR([GLib 2.12 is required])])
 
 
 dnl
diff --git a/src/conf.c b/src/conf.c
index 4da44c775..647ddec38 100644
--- a/src/conf.c
+++ b/src/conf.c
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include "utils.h"
 #include "tokenizer.h"
 #include "path.h"
+#include "glib_compat.h"
 
 #include <glib.h>
 
diff --git a/src/glib_compat.h b/src/glib_compat.h
index 679307fb3..641fef99a 100644
--- a/src/glib_compat.h
+++ b/src/glib_compat.h
@@ -28,9 +28,28 @@
 
 #include <glib.h>
 
+#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,14,0)
+
+#define g_queue_clear(q) do { g_queue_free(q); q = g_queue_new(); } while (0)
+
+static inline guint
+g_timeout_add_seconds(guint interval, GSourceFunc function, gpointer data)
+{
+	return g_timeout_add(interval * 1000, function, data);
+}
+
+#endif /* !2.14 */
+
 #if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,16,0)
 
-static char *
+static inline void
+g_propagate_prefixed_error(GError **dest_r, GError *src,
+			   G_GNUC_UNUSED const gchar *format, ...)
+{
+	g_propagate_error(dest_r, src);
+}
+
+static inline char *
 g_uri_escape_string(const char *unescaped,
 		    G_GNUC_UNUSED const char *reserved_chars_allowed,
 		    G_GNUC_UNUSED gboolean allow_utf8)
diff --git a/src/input/curl_input_plugin.c b/src/input/curl_input_plugin.c
index c3928a09b..b8e9435a0 100644
--- a/src/input/curl_input_plugin.c
+++ b/src/input/curl_input_plugin.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "config.h"
 #include "tag.h"
 #include "icy_metadata.h"
+#include "glib_compat.h"
 
 #include <assert.h>
 
diff --git a/src/input_stream.h b/src/input_stream.h
index 9e4a526ef..edecb8460 100644
--- a/src/input_stream.h
+++ b/src/input_stream.h
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 
+#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,14,0)
+typedef gint64 goffset;
+#endif
+
 struct input_stream {
 	/**
 	 * the plugin which implements this input stream
diff --git a/src/listen.c b/src/listen.c
index 668a8077c..c1611d4f0 100644
--- a/src/listen.c
+++ b/src/listen.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "client.h"
 #include "conf.h"
 #include "fd_util.h"
+#include "glib_compat.h"
 #include "config.h"
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 70166fefb..2c970ba0a 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -111,8 +111,10 @@ glue_mapper_init(void)
 	const char *music_dir, *playlist_dir;
 
 	music_dir = config_get_path(CONF_MUSIC_DIR);
+#if GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,14,0)
 	if (music_dir == NULL)
 		music_dir = g_get_user_special_dir(G_USER_DIRECTORY_MUSIC);
+#endif
 
 	playlist_dir = config_get_path(CONF_PLAYLIST_DIR);
 
diff --git a/src/output/httpd_client.c b/src/output/httpd_client.c
index 8157ebb44..62ede81be 100644
--- a/src/output/httpd_client.c
+++ b/src/output/httpd_client.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "fifo_buffer.h"
 #include "page.h"
 #include "icy_server.h"
+#include "glib_compat.h"
 
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <assert.h>
diff --git a/src/playlist_list.c b/src/playlist_list.c
index 2c6237ed4..d6359463e 100644
--- a/src/playlist_list.c
+++ b/src/playlist_list.c
@@ -104,6 +104,18 @@ playlist_list_global_finish(void)
 			playlist_plugin_finish(playlist_plugins[i]);
 }
 
+/* g_uri_parse_scheme() was introduced in GLib 2.16 */
+#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,16,0)
+static char *
+g_uri_parse_scheme(const char *uri)
+{
+	const char *end = strstr(uri, "://");
+	if (end == NULL)
+		return NULL;
+	return g_strndup(uri, end - uri);
+}
+#endif
+
 struct playlist_provider *
 playlist_list_open_uri(const char *uri)
 {
diff --git a/src/state_file.c b/src/state_file.c
index aa66720c1..4c7dab426 100644
--- a/src/state_file.c
+++ b/src/state_file.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "playlist.h"
 #include "playlist_state.h"
 #include "volume.h"
+#include "glib_compat.h"
 
 #include <glib.h>
 #include <assert.h>