diff --git a/evthread_pthread.c b/evthread_pthread.c
index 55495a6c..5a56359d 100644
--- a/evthread_pthread.c
+++ b/evthread_pthread.c
@@ -25,8 +25,10 @@
  */
 #include "event2/event-config.h"
 
-/* With glibc we need to define this to get PTHREAD_MUTEX_RECURSIVE. */
-#define _GNU_SOURCE
+/* With glibc we need to define this to get PTHREAD_MUTEX_RECURSIVE.
+ * _GNU_SOURCE, now from event-private
+ */
+#include "event-private.h"
 #include <pthread.h>
 
 struct event_base;
diff --git a/kqueue.c b/kqueue.c
index 92012982..12d4c198 100644
--- a/kqueue.c
+++ b/kqueue.c
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
  */
 #include "event2/event-config.h"
 
-#define _GNU_SOURCE
+#include "event-private.h"
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #ifdef _EVENT_HAVE_SYS_TIME_H