diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 428ad4fac..c735bc335 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ OPTION( WITH_OPENEXR "Enable openexr support" ${WITH_ALL_OPTIONS} )
 OPTION( WITH_UTEMPTER "Use utempter for utmp management" ${WITH_ALL_OPTIONS} )
 OPTION( WITH_AVAHI "Enable AVAHI support" ${WITH_ALL_OPTIONS} )
 OPTION( WITH_PCRE "Enable pcre regex support for kjs" ON )
+OPTION( WITH_GCC_VISIBILITY "Enable fvisibility and fvisibility-inlines-hidden" OFF )
 OPTION( WITH_INOTIFY "Enable inotify support for kio" ON )
 OPTION( WITH_GAMIN "Enable FAM/GAMIN support" ${WITH_ALL_OPTIONS} )
 OPTION( WITH_SUDO_KDESU_BACKEND "Use sudo as backend for kdesu (default is su)" OFF )
@@ -766,6 +767,21 @@ if( WITH_PCRE )
   set( HAVE_PCREPOSIX 1 )
 endif( )
 
+
+##### check for gcc visibility support #########
+# FIXME
+# This should check for [T]Qt3 visibility support
+
+if( WITH_GCC_VISIBILITY )
+  if( NOT UNIX )
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "\ngcc visibility support was requested, but your system is not *NIX" )
+  endif( NOT UNIX )
+  set( __KDE_HAVE_GCC_VISIBILITY 1 )
+  set( CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -fvisibility=hidden -fvisibility-inlines-hidden")
+  set( CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -fvisibility=hidden -fvisibility-inlines-hidden")
+endif( )
+
+
 ##### check for inotify ###########################
 
 if( WITH_INOTIFY )
diff --git a/config.h.cmake b/config.h.cmake
index 16e8434f9..8f97d45c3 100644
--- a/config.h.cmake
+++ b/config.h.cmake
@@ -116,6 +116,9 @@
 /* Define if you have OpenEXR */
 #cmakedefine HAVE_EXR 1
 
+/* Defined if you have fvisibility and fvisibility-inlines-hidden support. */
+#cmakedefine __KDE_HAVE_GCC_VISIBILITY 1
+
 /* Define is posix_fadvise is supported */
 #undef HAVE_FADVISE