diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index b05c708bfa4a4460ffa0b27e8db57043601f69c8..dcfcb4e81975a0eeca8ad88cc62e1b7e1680185d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -263,13 +263,13 @@ fi
 # or binaries.
 
 AC_DEFINE([GLIB_VERSION_MIN_REQUIRED], [GLIB_VERSION_2_36], [Ignore post-2.36 deprecations])
-AC_DEFINE([GLIB_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED], [GLIB_VERSION_2_38], [Prevent post-2.38 APIs])
+AC_DEFINE([GLIB_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED], [GLIB_VERSION_2_40], [Prevent post-2.40 APIs])
 
 with_glib=yes
 
 AS_IF([test "x$enable_modular_tests" != xno],
   [
-  PKG_CHECK_MODULES([GLIB], [glib-2.0 >= 2.36, gio-2.0 >= 2.36],
+  PKG_CHECK_MODULES([GLIB], [glib-2.0 >= 2.40, gio-2.0 >= 2.40],
     [
       AS_IF([test "x$dbus_unix" = xyes],
         [PKG_CHECK_MODULES([GIO_UNIX], [gio-unix-2.0],
diff --git a/test/internals/refs.c b/test/internals/refs.c
index a465662246799bf3a83cae8713f83c99275a6ef7..f9776378660f979db4c557808822eaaa7a43e826 100644
--- a/test/internals/refs.c
+++ b/test/internals/refs.c
@@ -80,11 +80,6 @@ typedef struct {
   VoidFunc unlock;
 } Thread;
 
-/* provide backwards compatibility shim when building with a glib <= 2.30.x */
-#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,31,0)
-#define g_thread_new(name,func,data) g_thread_create(func,data,TRUE,NULL)
-#endif
-
 static gpointer
 ref_thread (gpointer data)
 {
diff --git a/test/test-utils-glib.h b/test/test-utils-glib.h
index d4b2e614b3757960a69cb86197fc0f2bdecb1605..2e1073f0095db9e8d75beed9a9ed14b6057ebaed 100644
--- a/test/test-utils-glib.h
+++ b/test/test-utils-glib.h
@@ -84,14 +84,6 @@ void test_init (int *argcp, char ***argvp);
 
 void test_progress (char symbol);
 
-#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION (2, 38, 0)
-#define g_test_skip(s) my_test_skip (s)
-static inline void my_test_skip (const gchar *s)
-{
-  g_test_message ("SKIP: %s", s);
-}
-#endif
-
 void test_remove_if_exists (const gchar *path);
 void test_rmdir_must_exist (const gchar *path);
 void test_rmdir_if_exists (const gchar *path);