diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index b8a55534c..dd89b3aec 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ matrix:
     - os: linux
       sudo: false
       compiler: ": clang"
-      env: JOBS=8 CXX="ccache clang++-3.9 -Qunused-arguments" CC="clang-3.9" TRIGGER=true
+      env: JOBS=8 CXX="ccache clang++-3.9 -Qunused-arguments" CC="clang-3.9" ENABLE_GLIBC_WORKAROUND=True TRIGGER=true
       addons:
         apt:
           sources: [ 'ubuntu-toolchain-r-test']
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ before_script:
 
 script:
  - export SCONSFLAGS='--debug=time'
- - configure BENCHMARK=${BENCH}
+ - configure BENCHMARK=${BENCH} ENABLE_GLIBC_WORKAROUND=${ENABLE_GLIBC_WORKAROUND:-False}
  - cat config.log
  # we limit the `make` to 40 min
  # to ensure that slow builds still upload their
diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index 3cdc268ad..d81154096 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -309,6 +309,7 @@ opts.AddVariables(
     BoolVariable('USE_CONFIG', "Use SCons user '%s' file (will also write variables after successful configuration)", 'True'),
     BoolVariable('NO_ATEXIT', 'Will prevent Singletons from being deleted atexit of main thread', 'False'),
     BoolVariable('NO_DLCLOSE', 'Will prevent plugins from being unloaded', 'False'),
+    BoolVariable('ENABLE_GLIBC_WORKAROUND', "Workaround known GLIBC symbol exports to allow building against libstdc++-4.8 without binaries needing throw_out_of_range_fmt", 'False'),
     # http://www.scons.org/wiki/GoFastButton
     # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1318863/how-to-optimize-an-scons-script
     BoolVariable('FAST', "Make SCons faster at the cost of less precise dependency tracking", 'False'),
@@ -1879,6 +1880,9 @@ if not preconfigured:
         if env['NO_DLCLOSE'] or env['COVERAGE']:
             env.Append(CPPDEFINES = '-DMAPNIK_NO_DLCLOSE')
 
+        if env['ENABLE_GLIBC_WORKAROUND']:
+            env.Append(CPPDEFINES = '-DMAPNIK_ENABLE_GLIBC_WORKAROUND')
+
         # Mac OSX (Darwin) special settings
         if env['PLATFORM'] == 'Darwin':
             pthread = ''
diff --git a/src/font_engine_freetype.cpp b/src/font_engine_freetype.cpp
index 4d504a8ff..77a28d654 100644
--- a/src/font_engine_freetype.cpp
+++ b/src/font_engine_freetype.cpp
@@ -53,6 +53,16 @@ namespace mapnik
 {
 template class MAPNIK_DECL singleton<freetype_engine, CreateUsingNew>;
 
+void freetype_engine::clear()
+{
+#ifdef MAPNIK_THREADSAFE
+    std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(mutex_);
+#endif
+    global_font_file_mapping_.clear();
+    global_memory_fonts_.clear();
+}
+
+
 bool freetype_engine::is_font_file(std::string const& file_name)
 {
     // only accept files that will be matched by freetype2's `figurefiletype()`
diff --git a/src/glibc_workaround.cpp b/src/glibc_workaround.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c07a22d9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/glibc_workaround.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#ifdef __linux__
+
+#ifdef MAPNIK_ENABLE_GLIBC_WORKAROUND
+
+#include <stdexcept>
+
+// https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/4042
+// allows building against libstdc++-dev-4.9 while avoiding
+// GLIBCXX_3.4.20 dep
+// This is needed because libstdc++ itself uses this API - its not
+// just an issue of your code using it, ughhh
+
+namespace std
+{
+
+void __throw_out_of_range_fmt(const char *, ...) __attribute__((__noreturn__));
+void __throw_out_of_range_fmt(const char *err, ...)
+{
+    // Safe and over-simplified version. Ignore the format and print it as-is.
+    __throw_out_of_range(err);
+}
+}
+
+#endif // MAPNIK_ENABLE_GLIBC_WORKAROUND
+
+#endif // __linux__