diff --git a/glib/glibconfig.h.in b/glib/glibconfig.h.in
index ffedee1d2..0632e0b2f 100644
--- a/glib/glibconfig.h.in
+++ b/glib/glibconfig.h.in
@@ -129,7 +129,6 @@ typedef unsigned @glib_intptr_type_define@ guintptr;
 #endif
 
 #mesondefine G_HAVE_GROWING_STACK
-#mesondefine G_HAVE_GNUC_VISIBILITY
 
 #ifndef _MSC_VER
 # define G_HAVE_GNUC_VARARGS 1
diff --git a/glib/gmacros.h b/glib/gmacros.h
index d4e5124cf..2ef7587ce 100644
--- a/glib/gmacros.h
+++ b/glib/gmacros.h
@@ -1190,6 +1190,10 @@
 #define G_UNLIKELY(expr) (expr)
 #endif
 
+#if __GNUC__ >= 4 && !defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__CYGWIN__)
+#define G_HAVE_GNUC_VISIBILITY 1
+#endif
+
 /* GLIB_CANNOT_IGNORE_DEPRECATIONS is defined above for compilers that do not
  * have a way to temporarily suppress deprecation warnings. In these cases,
  * suppress the deprecated attribute altogether (otherwise a simple #include
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 43bb46832..4307c20dc 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -210,41 +210,6 @@ if host_system == 'windows' and cc.get_id() != 'msvc' and cc.get_id() != 'clang-
   glib_conf.set('_FILE_OFFSET_BITS', 64)
 endif
 
-# Check for GNU visibility attributes
-g_have_gnuc_visibility = cc.compiles('''
-  void
-  __attribute__ ((visibility ("hidden")))
-       f_hidden (void)
-  {
-  }
-  void
-  __attribute__ ((visibility ("internal")))
-       f_internal (void)
-  {
-  }
-  void
-  __attribute__ ((visibility ("default")))
-       f_default (void)
-  {
-  }
-  int main (void)
-  {
-    f_hidden();
-    f_internal();
-    f_default();
-    return 0;
-  }
-  ''',
-  # Not supported by MSVC, but MSVC also won't support visibility,
-  # so it's OK to pass -Werror explicitly. Replace with
-  # override_options : 'werror=true' once that is supported
-  args: ['-Werror'],
-  name : 'GNU C visibility attributes test')
-
-if g_have_gnuc_visibility
-  glibconfig_conf.set('G_HAVE_GNUC_VISIBILITY', '1')
-endif
-
 # Detect and set symbol visibility
 glib_hidden_visibility_args = []
 if get_option('default_library') != 'static'