diff --git a/clients/editor.c b/clients/editor.c
index 42c7f52d7..f1dffe1fe 100644
--- a/clients/editor.c
+++ b/clients/editor.c
@@ -1604,10 +1604,6 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	memset(&editor, 0, sizeof editor);
 
-#ifdef HAVE_PANGO
-	g_type_init();
-#endif
-
 	editor.display = display_create(&argc, argv);
 	if (editor.display == NULL) {
 		fprintf(stderr, "failed to create display: %m\n");
diff --git a/clients/stacking.c b/clients/stacking.c
index 0682e60ac..b034cf2ab 100644
--- a/clients/stacking.c
+++ b/clients/stacking.c
@@ -288,10 +288,6 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	memset(&stacking, 0, sizeof stacking);
 
-#ifdef HAVE_PANGO
-	g_type_init();
-#endif
-
 	stacking.display = display_create(&argc, argv);
 	if (stacking.display == NULL) {
 		fprintf(stderr, "Failed to create display: %m\n");
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9cad90364..363733d01 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ if test x$enable_clients = xyes; then
 	  [AC_ERROR([cairo-egl not used because $CAIRO_EGL_PKG_ERRORS])])],
   [have_cairo_egl=no])
 
-  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(PANGO, [pangocairo], [have_pango=yes], [have_pango=no])
+  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(PANGO, [pangocairo pango glib-2.0 >= 2.36], [have_pango=yes], [have_pango=no])
 fi
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(resize-optimization,