diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ec9f9be..9b23c12 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_GTKMM, test 0 = 1)
 fi
 
 AC_CHECK_LIB([expat], XML_ParserCreate_MM,
-    [ AC_CHECK_HEADERS(expat.h, have_expat=true, have_expat=false) ],
+   	[AC_CHECK_HEADERS(expat.h, have_expat=true, have_expat=false)],
 	have_expat=false)
 
 if ! $have_expat; then
@@ -95,6 +95,12 @@ xml_LIBS=-lexpat
 AC_SUBST(xml_CFLAGS)
 AC_SUBST(xml_LIBS)
 
+AC_CHECK_LIB([pthread], pthread_create,
+	[AC_CHECK_HEADERS(pthread.h, have_pthread=true, have_pthread=false)],
+	have_pthread=false)
+
+AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_PTHREAD, test x$have_pthread = xtrue)
+
 if test x$enable_debug = xyes ; then
 	CXXFLAGS="-Wall -ggdb -O0 -DDEBUG"
 else
diff --git a/examples/echo/Makefile.am b/examples/echo/Makefile.am
index b9b861c..d3d8e56 100644
--- a/examples/echo/Makefile.am
+++ b/examples/echo/Makefile.am
@@ -4,13 +4,23 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/include
 
 noinst_PROGRAMS = echo-server
 
-echo_server_SOURCES = echo-glue.h echo-server.h echo-server.cpp
+echo_server_SOURCES = echo-server-glue.h echo-server.h echo-server.cpp
 echo_server_LDADD = $(top_builddir)/src/libdbus-c++-1.la
 
-echo-glue.h: echo-introspect.xml
+echo-server-glue.h: echo-introspect.xml
 	$(top_builddir)/tools/dbusxx-xml2cpp $^ --adaptor=$@
 
-BUILT_SOURCES = echo-glue.h
+if HAVE_PTHREAD
+noinst_PROGRAMS += echo-client-mt
+endif
+
+echo_client_mt_SOURCES = echo-client-glue.h echo-client.h echo-client.cpp
+echo_client_mt_LDADD = $(top_builddir)/src/libdbus-c++-1.la -lpthread
+
+echo-client-glue.h: echo-introspect.xml
+	$(top_builddir)/tools/dbusxx-xml2cpp $^ --proxy=$@
+
+BUILT_SOURCES = echo-server-glue.h echo-client-glue.h
 CLEANFILES = $(BUILT_SOURCES)
 
 dist-hook:
diff --git a/examples/echo/echo-client.cpp b/examples/echo/echo-client.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a242294
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/echo/echo-client.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+#include "echo-client.h"
+#include <iostream>
+#include <pthread.h>
+#include <signal.h>
+
+using namespace std;
+
+static const char* ECHO_SERVER_NAME = "org.freedesktop.DBus.Examples.Echo";
+static const char* ECHO_SERVER_PATH = "/org/freedesktop/DBus/Examples/Echo";
+
+EchoClient::EchoClient( DBus::Connection& connection, const char* path, const char* name )
+: DBus::ObjectProxy(connection, path, name)
+{
+}
+
+void EchoClient::Echoed( const DBus::Variant& value )
+{
+	cout << "!";
+}
+
+/* NOTE: using many threads is likely to trigger a race condition in the event loop
+ * in fact access to the list of timeouts and watches inside the default dispatcher
+ * implementation (DBus::BusDispatcher) is NOT serialized
+ *
+ * (yes, I'm well aware of how much this sucks)
+ */
+static const int THREADS = 1;
+
+static bool spin = true;
+
+void* greeter_thread( void* )
+{
+	DBus::Connection conn = DBus::Connection::SessionBus();
+
+	EchoClient client(conn, ECHO_SERVER_PATH, ECHO_SERVER_NAME);
+
+	while(spin)
+	{
+		client.Hello("client");
+
+		cout << "*";
+	}
+
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+DBus::BusDispatcher dispatcher;
+
+void niam( int sig )
+{
+	spin = false;
+
+	dispatcher.leave();
+}
+
+int main()
+{
+	signal(SIGTERM, niam);
+	signal(SIGINT, niam);
+
+	DBus::_init_threading();
+
+	DBus::default_dispatcher = &dispatcher;
+
+	pthread_t threads[THREADS];
+
+	for(int i = 0; i < THREADS; ++i)
+	{
+		pthread_create(threads+i, NULL, greeter_thread, NULL);
+	}
+
+	dispatcher.enter();
+
+	for(int i = 0; i < THREADS; ++i)
+	{
+		pthread_join(threads[i], NULL);
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
diff --git a/examples/echo/echo-client.h b/examples/echo/echo-client.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f88e80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/echo/echo-client.h
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#ifndef __DEMO_ECHO_CLIENT_H
+#define __DEMO_ECHO_CLIENT_H
+
+#include <dbus-c++/dbus.h>
+#include "echo-client-glue.h"
+
+class EchoClient
+: public org::freedesktop::DBus::EchoDemo,
+  public DBus::IntrospectableProxy,
+  public DBus::ObjectProxy
+{
+public:
+
+	EchoClient( DBus::Connection& connection, const char* path, const char* name );
+
+	void Echoed( const DBus::Variant& value );
+};
+
+#endif//__DEMO_ECHO_CLIENT_H
diff --git a/examples/echo/echo-server.h b/examples/echo/echo-server.h
index d1007ac..989d84c 100644
--- a/examples/echo/echo-server.h
+++ b/examples/echo/echo-server.h
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #define __DEMO_ECHO_SERVER_H
 
 #include <dbus-c++/dbus.h>
-#include "echo-glue.h"
+#include "echo-server-glue.h"
 
 class EchoServer
 : public org::freedesktop::DBus::EchoDemo,
diff --git a/include/dbus-c++/config.h.in b/include/dbus-c++/config.h.in
index 8130122..e02365b 100644
--- a/include/dbus-c++/config.h.in
+++ b/include/dbus-c++/config.h.in
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@
 /* Define to 1 if you have the <memory.h> header file. */
 #undef HAVE_MEMORY_H
 
+/* Define to 1 if you have the <pthread.h> header file. */
+#undef HAVE_PTHREAD_H
+
 /* Define to 1 if you have the <stdint.h> header file. */
 #undef HAVE_STDINT_H
 
diff --git a/include/dbus-c++/connection.h b/include/dbus-c++/connection.h
index 62a95b9..028ab85 100644
--- a/include/dbus-c++/connection.h
+++ b/include/dbus-c++/connection.h
@@ -91,6 +91,8 @@ public:
 
 	void disconnect();
 
+	void exit_on_disconnect( bool exit );
+
 	void flush();
 
 	bool send( const Message&, unsigned int* serial = NULL );
diff --git a/include/dbus-c++/dispatcher.h b/include/dbus-c++/dispatcher.h
index c59ec6c..a613735 100644
--- a/include/dbus-c++/dispatcher.h
+++ b/include/dbus-c++/dispatcher.h
@@ -181,6 +181,8 @@ typedef bool (*CondVarWaitTimeoutFn)( CondVar* cv, Mutex* mx, int timeout );
 typedef void (*CondVarWakeOneFn)( CondVar* cv );
 typedef void (*CondVarWakeAllFn)( CondVar* cv );
 
+void _init_threading();
+
 void _init_threading(
 	MutexNewFn, MutexFreeFn, MutexLockFn, MutexUnlockFn,
 	CondVarNewFn, CondVarFreeFn, CondVarWaitFn, CondVarWaitTimeoutFn, CondVarWakeOneFn, CondVarWakeAllFn
diff --git a/src/connection.cpp b/src/connection.cpp
index 4f7369a..e961d0d 100644
--- a/src/connection.cpp
+++ b/src/connection.cpp
@@ -282,6 +282,11 @@ void Connection::disconnect()
 	dbus_connection_close(_pvt->conn);
 }
 
+void Connection::exit_on_disconnect( bool exit )
+{
+	dbus_connection_set_exit_on_disconnect(_pvt->conn, exit);
+}
+
 bool Connection::unique_name( const char* n )
 {
 	return dbus_bus_set_unique_name(_pvt->conn, n);
diff --git a/src/dispatcher.cpp b/src/dispatcher.cpp
index c8100df..f0f5293 100644
--- a/src/dispatcher.cpp
+++ b/src/dispatcher.cpp
@@ -168,6 +168,11 @@ void Dispatcher::dispatch_pending()
 	}
 }
 
+void DBus::_init_threading()
+{
+	dbus_threads_init_default();
+}
+
 void DBus::_init_threading(
 	MutexNewFn m1,
 	MutexFreeFn m2,