diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 231445d9..b5590b2c 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ foreach link_arg: test_link_args
 endforeach
 add_project_link_arguments(global_link_args, language: 'c')
 
-if not cc.links('''
+if cc.links('''
 #include <stdatomic.h>
 int main(void) {
   atomic_thread_fence(memory_order_acquire);
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ int main(void) {
   return 0;
 }
 ''')
-  error('Sysprof requires a C compiler with stdatomic support such as GCC 4.9 or newer')
+  config_h.set10('HAVE_STDATOMIC_H', 1)
 endif
 
 subdir('src')
diff --git a/src/libsysprof-capture/mapped-ring-buffer.c b/src/libsysprof-capture/mapped-ring-buffer.c
index 11499b64..9b68274b 100644
--- a/src/libsysprof-capture/mapped-ring-buffer.c
+++ b/src/libsysprof-capture/mapped-ring-buffer.c
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 
 #include "config.h"
 
-#include <stdatomic.h>
 #include <sys/mman.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
diff --git a/src/libsysprof/sysprof-perf-counter.c b/src/libsysprof/sysprof-perf-counter.c
index 2bc61cc0..e896baac 100644
--- a/src/libsysprof/sysprof-perf-counter.c
+++ b/src/libsysprof/sysprof-perf-counter.c
@@ -42,7 +42,9 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <gio/gio.h>
 #include <gio/gunixfdlist.h>
-#include <stdatomic.h>
+#ifdef HAVE_STDATOMIC_H
+# include <stdatomic.h>
+#endif
 #include <string.h>
 #include <sys/ioctl.h>
 #include <sys/mman.h>
@@ -219,7 +221,11 @@ sysprof_perf_counter_flush (SysprofPerfCounter     *self,
   tail = info->tail;
   head = info->map->data_head;
 
+#ifdef HAVE_STDATOMIC_H
   atomic_thread_fence (memory_order_acquire);
+#elif G_GNUC_CHECK_VERSION(3, 0)
+  __sync_synchronize ();
+#endif
 
   if (head < tail)
     tail = head;
@@ -285,7 +291,12 @@ sysprof_perf_counter_flush (SysprofPerfCounter     *self,
 
   info->tail = tail;
 
+#ifdef HAVE_STDATOMIC_H
   atomic_thread_fence (memory_order_seq_cst);
+#elif G_GNUC_CHECK_VERSION(3, 0)
+  __sync_synchronize ();
+#endif
+
   info->map->data_tail = tail;
 }