diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
index 155c47ea..841621f0 100644
--- a/acinclude.m4
+++ b/acinclude.m4
@@ -90,6 +90,63 @@ AC_DEFUN([ACX_CHECK_POLL], [
 	fi
 ])dnl ACX_CHECK_POLL
 
+dnl See if we need extra libraries for nanosleep
+AC_DEFUN([ACX_CHECK_NANOSLEEP], [
+	acx_nanosleep_ok=no
+	acx_nanosleep_list=""
+
+	dnl check if user has set NANOSLEEP_LIBS
+	save_user_NANOSLEEP_LIBS="$NANOSLEEP_LIBS"
+	if test x"$NANOSLEEP_LIBS" != x; then
+		acx_nanosleep_list=user
+	fi
+
+	dnl check various libraries (including no extra libraries) for
+	dnl nanosleep.  `none' should appear first.
+	acx_nanosleep_list="none $acx_nanosleep_list rt"
+	for flag in $acx_nanosleep_list; do
+        case $flag in
+            none)
+            AC_MSG_CHECKING([for nanosleep])
+            NANOSLEEP_LIBS=""
+            ;;
+
+            user)
+            AC_MSG_CHECKING([for nanosleep in $save_user_NANOSLEEP_LIBS])
+			NANOSLEEP_LIBS="$save_user_NANOSLEEP_LIBS"
+            ;;
+
+            *)
+            AC_MSG_CHECKING([for nanosleep in -l$flag])
+            NANOSLEEP_LIBS="-l$flag"
+            ;;
+        esac
+
+    	save_LIBS="$LIBS"
+    	LIBS="$NANOSLEEP_LIBS $LIBS"
+    	AC_TRY_LINK([#include <time.h>],
+            		[struct timespec t = { 1, 1000 }; nanosleep(&t, NULL);],
+            		acx_nanosleep_ok=yes, acx_nanosleep_ok=no)
+		LIBS="$save_LIBS"
+        AC_MSG_RESULT($acx_nanosleep_ok)
+        if test x"$acx_nanosleep_ok" = xyes; then
+            break;
+        fi
+        NANOSLEEP_LIBS=""
+	done
+
+	AC_SUBST(NANOSLEEP_LIBS)
+
+	# execute ACTION-IF-FOUND/ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND:
+	if test x"$acx_nanosleep_ok" = xyes; then
+        	ifelse([$1],,AC_DEFINE(HAVE_NANOSLEEP,1,[Define if you have the `nanosleep' function.]),[$1])
+        	:
+	else
+        	acx_nanosleep_ok=no
+        	$2
+	fi
+])dnl ACX_CHECK_POLL
+
 dnl The following macros are from http://www.gnu.org/software/ac-archive/
 dnl which distributes them under the following license:
 dnl
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index b92c7539..75ec64de 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -31,12 +31,13 @@ dnl checks for programs
 AC_PROG_CXX
 AC_PROG_RANLIB
 
-dnl checks for libraries
-ACX_PTHREAD(,AC_MSG_ERROR(You must have pthreads to compile synergy))
-
 dnl do checks using C++
 AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
 
+dnl checks for libraries
+ACX_PTHREAD(,AC_MSG_ERROR(You must have pthreads to compile synergy))
+ACX_CHECK_NANOSLEEP
+
 dnl checks for header files
 AC_HEADER_STDC
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([unistd.h sys/time.h])
@@ -83,6 +84,7 @@ dnl checks for system services
 
 dnl adjust variables for X11 and pthreads
 CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS $X_CFLAGS $PTHREAD_CFLAGS"
+LIBS="$NANOSLEEP_LIBS $PTHREAD_LIBS $LIBS"
 
 AC_OUTPUT([
 Makefile
diff --git a/lib/mt/CThreadRep.cpp b/lib/mt/CThreadRep.cpp
index bc92ba8b..37ff52cf 100644
--- a/lib/mt/CThreadRep.cpp
+++ b/lib/mt/CThreadRep.cpp
@@ -351,6 +351,17 @@ CThreadRep::doThreadFunc()
 #		include <time.h>
 #	endif
 #endif
+#if !HAVE_NANOSLEEP
+#	if HAVE_SYS_SELECT_H
+#		include <sys/select.h>
+#	endif
+#	if HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H
+#		include <sys/types.h>
+#	endif
+#	if HAVE_UNISTD_H
+#		include <unistd.h>
+#	endif
+#endif
 
 void
 CThreadRep::init()
@@ -378,11 +389,30 @@ CThreadRep::sleep(
 	if (timeout < 0.0) {
 		return;
 	}
+#if HAVE_NANOSLEEP
 	struct timespec t;
 	t.tv_sec  = (long)timeout;
 	t.tv_nsec = (long)(1000000000.0 * (timeout - (double)t.tv_sec));
 	while (nanosleep(&t, &t) < 0)
 		testCancel();
+#else
+	/* emulate nanosleep() with select() */
+	CStopwatch timer(true);
+	double timeLeft = timeout - timer.getTime();
+	while (timeLeft > 0.0) {
+		struct timeval timeout2;
+		timeout2.tv_sec  = static_cast<int>(timeLeft);
+		timeout2.tv_usec = static_cast<int>(1.0e+6 * (timeLeft -
+														timeout2.tv_sec));
+		select((SELECT_TYPE_ARG1)  0,
+				SELECT_TYPE_ARG234 NULL,
+				SELECT_TYPE_ARG234 NULL,
+				SELECT_TYPE_ARG234 NULL,
+				SELECT_TYPE_ARG5   &timeout2);
+		testCancel();
+		timeLeft = timeout - timer.getTime();
+	}
+#endif
 }
 
 void