diff --git a/app/flatpak-main.c b/app/flatpak-main.c
index 983345644..9e74bb445 100644
--- a/app/flatpak-main.c
+++ b/app/flatpak-main.c
@@ -596,6 +596,9 @@ main (int    argc,
 
   g_set_prgname (argv[0]);
 
+  /* Avoid weird recursive type initialization deadlocks from libsoup */
+  g_type_ensure (G_TYPE_SOCKET);
+
   /* avoid gvfs (http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=526454) */
   old_env = g_strdup (g_getenv ("GIO_USE_VFS"));
   g_setenv ("GIO_USE_VFS", "local", TRUE);
diff --git a/common/flatpak-installation.c b/common/flatpak-installation.c
index a8368fd3b..42374635c 100644
--- a/common/flatpak-installation.c
+++ b/common/flatpak-installation.c
@@ -129,6 +129,8 @@ flatpak_installation_class_init (FlatpakInstallationClass *klass)
   object_class->set_property = flatpak_installation_set_property;
   object_class->finalize = flatpak_installation_finalize;
 
+  /* Avoid weird recursive type initialization deadlocks from libsoup */
+  g_type_ensure (G_TYPE_SOCKET);
 }
 
 static void
diff --git a/tests/httpcache.c b/tests/httpcache.c
index 3c4e94731..eb747b354 100644
--- a/tests/httpcache.c
+++ b/tests/httpcache.c
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
   const char *url, *dest;
   int flags = 0;
 
+  /* Avoid weird recursive type initialization deadlocks from libsoup */
+  g_type_ensure (G_TYPE_SOCKET);
+
   if (argc == 3)
     {
       url = argv[1];