diff --git a/gio/tests/meson.build b/gio/tests/meson.build
index c825b0cd7..56a04cce1 100644
--- a/gio/tests/meson.build
+++ b/gio/tests/meson.build
@@ -12,20 +12,20 @@ test_c_args = [
   '-UG_DISABLE_ASSERT',
 ]
 
-# workaround for https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/6880
-if build_machine.system() == 'linux'
-  libutil_name = 'libutil'
-  libutil = run_command('sh', '-c',
-    '''ldconfig -p | grep -o "[[:space:]]@0@\.so\(\.[0-9]\+\)\?\b"'''
-    .format(libutil_name), check: false).stdout().strip().split('\n')
+libutil_dep = dependency('', required : false)
 
-  if libutil.length() > 0
-      message('Found libutil as @0@'.format(libutil[0]))
-      test_c_args += '-DLIBUTIL_SONAME="@0@"'.format(libutil[0])
-  else
-      warning('libutil not found')
-  endif # libutil.length() > 0
-endif # build_machine.system() == 'linux'
+if cc.has_header('pty.h')
+  have_openpty = cc.has_function('openpty', prefix : '#include <pty.h>')
+
+  if host_machine.system() == 'linux' and not have_openpty
+    libutil_dep = cc.find_library('util', required : false)
+    have_openpty = cc.has_function('openpty', dependencies : libutil_dep, prefix : '#include <pty.h>')
+  endif
+
+  if have_openpty
+    test_c_args += '-DHAVE_OPENPTY'
+  endif
+endif
 
 if host_machine.system() == 'windows'
   common_gio_tests_deps += [iphlpapi_dep, winsock2, cc.find_library ('secur32')]
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ gio_tests = {
   'network-monitor' : {},
   'network-monitor-race' : {},
   'permission' : {},
-  'pollable' : {'dependencies' : [libdl_dep]},
+  'pollable' : {'dependencies' : [libutil_dep]},
   'power-profile-monitor' : {},
   'proxy-test' : {},
   'readwrite' : {},
diff --git a/gio/tests/pollable.c b/gio/tests/pollable.c
index 516d7f4e4..97c26c25d 100644
--- a/gio/tests/pollable.c
+++ b/gio/tests/pollable.c
@@ -22,12 +22,20 @@
 #include <glib/gstdio.h>
 
 #ifdef G_OS_UNIX
-#include <dlfcn.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
+#ifdef HAVE_OPENPTY
+#include <pty.h>
+#endif
 #include <gio/gunixinputstream.h>
 #include <gio/gunixoutputstream.h>
 #endif
 
+/* openpty() is non-standard and might not be available on all kernels
+ * and libc implementations, but glibc on Linux definitely has it */
+#if defined(__linux__) && defined(__GNUC__) && !defined(HAVE_OPENPTY)
+#error Should have been able to find openpty on GNU/Linux
+#endif
+
 GMainLoop *loop;
 GPollableInputStream *in;
 GOutputStream *out;
@@ -185,31 +193,19 @@ test_pollable_unix_pipe (void)
 static void
 test_pollable_unix_pty (void)
 {
-  int (*openpty_impl) (int *, int *, char *, void *, void *);
+#ifdef HAVE_OPENPTY
   int a, b, status;
-#ifdef LIBUTIL_SONAME
-  void *handle;
 #endif
 
   g_test_summary ("Test that PTYs are considered pollable");
 
-#ifdef LIBUTIL_SONAME
-  handle = dlopen (LIBUTIL_SONAME, RTLD_GLOBAL | RTLD_LAZY);
-  g_assert_nonnull (handle);
-#endif
+#ifdef HAVE_OPENPTY
+  status = openpty (&a, &b, NULL, NULL, NULL);
 
-  openpty_impl = dlsym (RTLD_DEFAULT, "openpty");
-  if (openpty_impl == NULL)
-    {
-      g_test_skip ("System does not support openpty()");
-      goto close_libutil;
-    }
-
-  status = openpty_impl (&a, &b, NULL, NULL, NULL);
   if (status == -1)
     {
       g_test_skip ("Unable to open PTY");
-      goto close_libutil;
+      return;
     }
 
   in = G_POLLABLE_INPUT_STREAM (g_unix_input_stream_new (a, TRUE));
@@ -222,12 +218,8 @@ test_pollable_unix_pty (void)
 
   close (a);
   close (b);
-
-close_libutil:
-#ifdef LIBUTIL_SONAME
-  dlclose (handle);
 #else
-  return;
+  g_test_skip ("openpty not found");
 #endif
 }