diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 51dedff..71419ab 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,13 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
 
 project(chaiscript)
 
-option(MULTITHREAD_SUPPORT_ENABLED "Multithreaded Support Enabled" TRUE)
+# MINGW does not yet support C++11's concurrency features
+if (MINGW)
+  option(MULTITHREAD_SUPPORT_ENABLED "Multithreaded Support Enabled" FALSE)
+else()
+  option(MULTITHREAD_SUPPORT_ENABLED "Multithreaded Support Enabled" TRUE)
+endif()
+
 option(BUILD_MODULES "Build Extra Modules (stl, reflection)" TRUE)
 option(BUILD_SAMPLES "Build Samples Folder" FALSE)
 
@@ -39,7 +45,9 @@ include(CPack)
 
 include(cmake/CheckCXX11Features.cmake)
 
-find_library(READLINE_LIBRARY NAMES readline PATH /usr/lib /usr/local/lib /opt/local/lib)
+if(NOT MINGW)
+  find_library(READLINE_LIBRARY NAMES readline PATH /usr/lib /usr/local/lib /opt/local/lib)
+endif()
 
 if(HAS_CXX11_VARIADIC_TEMPLATES)
   message(STATUS "Variadic Template support detected")
@@ -68,7 +76,7 @@ if(MSVC)
    endif()
 else()
   add_definitions(-Wall -Wextra -Wshadow -pedantic -std=c++0x)
-
+  
   if (APPLE)
     add_definitions(-Wno-sign-compare)
   endif()
@@ -88,6 +96,12 @@ else()
   set (EXTRA_LINKER_FLAGS )
 endif()
 
+# limitations in MinGW require us to make an optimized build
+# for the sake of object sizes or something
+if (MINGW)
+  add_definitions(-O3)
+endif()
+
 include_directories(include)
 
 
diff --git a/samples/example.cpp b/samples/example.cpp
index e753451..bc8c982 100644
--- a/samples/example.cpp
+++ b/samples/example.cpp
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 // http://www.chaiscript.com
 
 #include <iostream>
+#include <ctime>
 
 #include <chaiscript/chaiscript.hpp>
 #include <chaiscript/dispatchkit/bootstrap_stl.hpp>
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index bd80f21..6a8e3a4 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -15,16 +15,20 @@
 #include <readline/readline.h>
 #include <readline/history.h>
 #else
+
+char *mystrdup (const char *s) {
+    char *d = static_cast<char*>(malloc (strlen (s) + 1));   // Space for length plus nul
+    if (d == nullptr) return nullptr;          // No memory
+    strcpy (d,s);                        // Copy the characters
+    return d;                            // Return the new string
+}
+
 char* readline(const char* p)
 {
   std::string retval;
   std::cout << p ;
   std::getline(std::cin, retval);
-#ifdef CHAISCRIPT_MSVC
-  return std::cin.eof() ? NULL : _strdup(retval.c_str());
-#else
-  return std::cin.eof() ? NULL : strdup(retval.c_str());
-#endif
+  return std::cin.eof() ? NULL : mystrdup(retval.c_str());
 }
 void add_history(const char*){}
 void using_history(){}
diff --git a/unittests/type_info_test.cpp b/unittests/type_info_test.cpp
index 361be80..3dba907 100644
--- a/unittests/type_info_test.cpp
+++ b/unittests/type_info_test.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Tests to make sure that the order in which function dispatches occur is correct
 
 #include <chaiscript/dispatchkit/type_info.hpp>
+#include <cstdlib>
 
 void test_type(const chaiscript::Type_Info &ti, bool t_is_const, bool t_is_pointer, bool t_is_reference, bool t_is_void,
     bool t_is_undef)