diff --git a/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-pdf.c b/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-pdf.c
index 9854344d2..5173780db 100644
--- a/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-pdf.c
+++ b/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-pdf.c
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@
 #include <signal.h>
 #endif
 
+#if HAVE_SYS_WAIT_H
+#include <sys/wait.h>
+#endif
+
 #if ! CAIRO_HAS_RECORDING_SURFACE
 #define CAIRO_SURFACE_TYPE_RECORDING CAIRO_INTERNAL_SURFACE_TYPE_RECORDING
 #endif
diff --git a/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-ps.c b/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-ps.c
index c3f06941c..53c8cb825 100644
--- a/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-ps.c
+++ b/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-ps.c
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@
 #include <signal.h>
 #endif
 
+#if HAVE_SYS_WAIT_H
+#include <sys/wait.h>
+#endif
+
 #if ! CAIRO_HAS_RECORDING_SURFACE
 #define CAIRO_SURFACE_TYPE_RECORDING CAIRO_INTERNAL_SURFACE_TYPE_RECORDING
 #endif
diff --git a/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-svg.c b/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-svg.c
index 10fddb6b9..310dc5df1 100644
--- a/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-svg.c
+++ b/boilerplate/cairo-boilerplate-svg.c
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@
 #include <signal.h>
 #endif
 
+#if HAVE_SYS_WAIT_H
+#include <sys/wait.h>
+#endif
+
 #if ! CAIRO_HAS_RECORDING_SURFACE
 #define CAIRO_SURFACE_TYPE_RECORDING CAIRO_INTERNAL_SURFACE_TYPE_RECORDING
 #endif
diff --git a/build/configure.ac.system b/build/configure.ac.system
index 5c3f4f9a9..b9d71c8d7 100644
--- a/build/configure.ac.system
+++ b/build/configure.ac.system
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ AC_CHECK_HEADER(fenv.h,
 	[AC_CHECK_FUNCS(feenableexcept fedisableexcept feclearexcept)])
 
 dnl check for misc headers and functions
-AC_CHECK_HEADERS([libgen.h byteswap.h signal.h setjmp.h fenv.h])
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([libgen.h byteswap.h signal.h setjmp.h fenv.h sys/wait.h])
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS([ctime_r drand48 flockfile funlockfile getline link strndup])
 
 dnl check for win32 headers (this detects mingw as well)