diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index a76ef24a3..b2ff67d63 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -76,6 +76,12 @@ env['PLATFORM'] = platform.uname()[0]
 color_print (4,"Building on %s ..." % env['PLATFORM'])
 Help(opts.GenerateHelpText(env))
 
+thread_suffix = '-mt'
+
+if env['PLATFORM'] == 'FreeBSD':
+    thread_suffix = ''
+    env.Append(LIBS = 'pthread')
+
 conf = Configure(env)
 
 #### Libraries and headers dependency checks ####
@@ -176,7 +182,7 @@ else:
     
 for count, libinfo in enumerate(BOOST_LIBSHEADERS):
     if  env['THREADING'] == 'multi' :
-        if not conf.CheckLibWithHeader('boost_%s%s-mt' % (libinfo[0],env['BOOST_APPEND']), libinfo[1], 'C++') and libinfo[2] :
+        if not conf.CheckLibWithHeader('boost_%s%s%s' % (libinfo[0],env['BOOST_APPEND'],thread_suffix), libinfo[1], 'C++') and libinfo[2] :
             color_print(1,'Could not find header or shared library for boost %s, exiting!' % libinfo[0])
             Exit(1)
     elif not conf.CheckLibWithHeader('boost_%s%s' % (libinfo[0], env['BOOST_APPEND']), libinfo[1], 'C++') :
@@ -198,9 +204,9 @@ SConscript('agg/SConscript')
 SConscript('src/SConscript')
 
 # Build shapeindex and remove its dependency from the LIBS
-if 'boost_program_options%s-mt' % env['BOOST_APPEND'] in env['LIBS']:
+if 'boost_program_options%s%s' % (env['BOOST_APPEND'],thread_suffix) in env['LIBS']:
     SConscript('utils/shapeindex/SConscript')
-    env['LIBS'].remove('boost_program_options%s-mt' % env['BOOST_APPEND'])
+    env['LIBS'].remove('boost_program_options%s%s' % (env['BOOST_APPEND'],thread_suffix))
 
 # Build the input plug-ins
 if 'postgis' in inputplugins and 'pq' in env['LIBS']:
diff --git a/bindings/python/SConscript b/bindings/python/SConscript
index f694ae04c..9d9aea726 100644
--- a/bindings/python/SConscript
+++ b/bindings/python/SConscript
@@ -28,21 +28,26 @@ Import('env')
 prefix = env['PYTHON_PREFIX'] + '/' + env['LIBDIR_SCHEMA'] + '/python' + env['PYTHON_VERSION'] + '/site-packages/'
 install_prefix = env['DESTDIR'] + '/' + prefix
 
+thread_suffix = '-mt'
+
+if env['PLATFORM'] == 'FreeBSD':
+    thread_suffix = ''
+
 linkflags = ''
 libraries = ['mapnik','png','jpeg']
 if env['THREADING'] == 'multi':
-    libraries.append('boost_python%s-mt' % env['BOOST_APPEND'])
+    libraries.append('boost_python%s%s' % (env['BOOST_APPEND'],thread_suffix))
 else :
     libraries.append('mapnik', 'boost_python%s' % env['BOOST_APPEND'])
 
 if env['PLATFORM'] == 'Darwin':
     if env['THREADING'] == 'multi':
-        libraries.append('boost_regex%s-mt' % env['BOOST_APPEND'])
+        libraries.append('boost_regex%s%s' % (env['BOOST_APPEND'],thread_suffix))
     else :
         libraries.append('boost_regex%s' % env['BOOST_APPEND'])
     
     if env['THREADING'] == 'multi':
-        libraries.append('boost_thread%s-mt' % env['BOOST_APPEND'])
+        libraries.append('boost_thread%s%s' % (env['BOOST_APPEND'],thread_suffix))
 
     linkflags = '-F/ -framework Python'
 
diff --git a/src/unicode.cpp b/src/unicode.cpp
index f955bcc92..592203d62 100644
--- a/src/unicode.cpp
+++ b/src/unicode.cpp
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ namespace mapnik {
       size_t inleft = input.size();
       std::wstring output(inleft,0);
       size_t outleft = inleft * sizeof(wchar_t);
-#if (!defined(OSX_LEOPARD) && defined(DARWIN)) || defined(SUNOS)
+#if (!defined(OSX_LEOPARD) && defined(DARWIN)) || defined(SUNOS) || defined(FREEBSD)
       const char * in = input.c_str();
 #else
       char * in = const_cast<char*>(input.data());
diff --git a/utils/shapeindex/SConscript b/utils/shapeindex/SConscript
index 37c8900ef..30d6844fe 100644
--- a/utils/shapeindex/SConscript
+++ b/utils/shapeindex/SConscript
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@ Import ('env')
 prefix = env['PREFIX']
 install_prefix = env['DESTDIR'] + '/' + prefix
 
+thread_suffix = '-mt'
+
+if env['PLATFORM'] == 'FreeBSD':
+    thread_suffix = ''
+
 source = Split(
     """
     shapeindex.cpp
@@ -38,7 +43,7 @@ headers = ['#plugins/input/shape'] + env['CPPPATH']
 
 boost_program_options = 'boost_program_options%s' % env['BOOST_APPEND']
 if env['THREADING'] == 'multi':
-    boost_program_options = '%s-mt' % boost_program_options
+    boost_program_options = '%s%s' % (boost_program_options,thread_suffix)
 shapeindex = env.Program('shapeindex', source, CPPPATH=headers, LIBS=boost_program_options)
 
 env.Install(install_prefix + '/bin', shapeindex)