diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix
index de0a02c56e25..6fa77b233c67 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, gettext, perl, python, autoconf, automake, libtool
-, libiconvOrEmpty, libintlOrEmpty, zlib, libffi, pcre, libelf, dbus }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, gettext, perl, python
+, libiconvOrEmpty, libintlOrEmpty, zlib, libffi, pcre, libelf
+
+# this is just for tests (not in closure of any regular package)
+, libxml2, tzdata, desktop_file_utils, shared_mime_info, doCheck ? false
+}:
 
 # TODO:
 # * Add gio-module-fam
@@ -17,7 +21,6 @@
       https://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeGoals/InstalledTests
   * Support org.freedesktop.Application, including D-Bus activation from desktop files
 */
-
 let
   # Some packages don't get "Cflags" from pkgconfig correctly
   # and then fail to build when directly including like <glib/...>.
@@ -35,7 +38,7 @@ let
   ver_maj = "2.38";
   ver_min = "2";
 in
-with { inherit (stdenv.lib) optional optionalString; };
+with { inherit (stdenv.lib) optional optionals optionalString; };
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "glib-${ver_maj}.${ver_min}";
@@ -45,28 +48,33 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0d2px8m77603s5pm3md4bcm5d0ksbcsb6ik1w52hjslnq1a9hsh5";
   };
 
-  # configure script looks for d-bus but it is (probably) only needed for tests
-  buildInputs = [ libelf ];
+  buildInputs = [ libelf ]
+    ++ optionals doCheck [ tzdata libxml2 desktop_file_utils shared_mime_info ];
 
-  # I don't know why the autotools are needed now, even without modifying configure scripts
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig gettext perl python ] ++ [ autoconf automake libtool ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig gettext perl python ];
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ pcre zlib libffi ] ++ libiconvOrEmpty ++ libintlOrEmpty;
 
-  preConfigure = "autoreconf -fi";
-
   configureFlags =
     optional stdenv.isDarwin "--disable-compile-warnings"
     ++ optional stdenv.isSunOS "--disable-modular-tests";
 
-  CPPFLAGS = optionalString stdenv.isSunOS "-DBSD_COMP";
-
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = optionalString stdenv.isDarwin "-lintl";
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = optionalString stdenv.isDarwin " -lintl"
+    + optionalString stdenv.isSunOS " -DBSD_COMP";
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  doCheck = false; # ToDo: fix the remaining problems, so we have checked glib by default
-  LD_LIBRARY_PATH = optionalString doCheck "${stdenv.gcc.gcc}/lib";
+  inherit doCheck;
+  preCheck = optionalString doCheck
+    # libgcc_s.so.1 must be installed for pthread_cancel to work
+    # also point to the glib/.libs path
+    '' export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$(dirname $(echo ${stdenv.gcc.gcc}/lib*/libgcc_s.so)):$NIX_BUILD_TOP/${name}/glib/.libs:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
+       export TZDIR="${tzdata}/share/zoneinfo"
+       export XDG_CACHE_HOME="$TMP"
+       export XDG_RUNTIME_HOME="$TMP"
+       export HOME="$TMP"
+       export XDG_DATA_DIRS="${desktop_file_utils}/share:${shared_mime_info}/share"
+    '';
 
   postInstall = ''rm -rvf $out/share/gtk-doc'';
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 62fcfaca5f42..a87a68ae3663 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -4388,8 +4388,8 @@ let
     stdenv = if stdenv.isDarwin
       then overrideGCC stdenv gccApple
       else stdenv;
-    automake = automake113x;
   };
+  glib-tested = glib.override { doCheck = true; }; # checked version separate to break cycles
   glibmm = callPackage ../development/libraries/glibmm { };
 
   glib_networking = callPackage ../development/libraries/glib-networking {};
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/release.nix b/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
index 33ecef8b3a21..84ae44ec449c 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ let
               # Ensure that X11/GTK+ are in order.
               jobs.thunderbird.x86_64-linux
               jobs.thunderbird.i686-linux
+              jobs.glib-tested.x86_64-linux # standard glib doesn't do checks
+              jobs.glib-tested.i686-linux
             ];
         };