diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7c3c1d6..38a12a4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 ## master
 
+* fix compat with unified (semistatic) libvips binaries [kleisauke]
+
 ## Version 2.2.1 (2024-02-21)
 
 * add `Vips.block_untrusted` method to block all untrusted operations. Only for libvips >= 8.13. [Docs](https://www.libvips.org/API/current/libvips-vips.html#vips-block-untrusted-set). [#382](https://github.com/libvips/ruby-vips/pull/382) [aglushkov](https://github.com/aglushkov)
diff --git a/lib/vips.rb b/lib/vips.rb
index f0e7461..92af2e2 100644
--- a/lib/vips.rb
+++ b/lib/vips.rb
@@ -33,6 +33,30 @@ def library_name(name, abi_number)
   end
 end
 
+# we can sometimes get dependent libraries from libvips -- either the platform
+# will open dependencies for us automatically, or the libvips binary has been
+# built to includes all main dependencies (common on windows, can happen
+# elsewhere)
+#
+# we must get glib functions from libvips if we can, since it will be the
+# one that libvips itself is using, and they will share runtime types
+module Vips
+  extend FFI::Library
+
+  ffi_lib library_name("vips", 42)
+
+  begin
+    attach_function :g_malloc, [:size_t], :pointer
+    @@is_unified = true
+  rescue FFI::NotFoundError
+    @@is_unified = false
+  end
+
+  def self.unified?
+    @@is_unified
+  end
+end
+
 module GLib
   class << self
     attr_accessor :logger
@@ -42,7 +66,11 @@ class << self
 
   extend FFI::Library
 
-  ffi_lib library_name("glib-2.0", 0)
+  if Vips.unified?
+    ffi_lib library_name("vips", 42)
+  else
+    ffi_lib library_name("glib-2.0", 0)
+  end
 
   attach_function :g_malloc, [:size_t], :pointer
 
@@ -134,7 +162,11 @@ def self.set_log_domain domain
 module GObject
   extend FFI::Library
 
-  ffi_lib library_name("gobject-2.0", 0)
+  if Vips.unified?
+    ffi_lib library_name("vips", 42)
+  else
+    ffi_lib library_name("gobject-2.0", 0)
+  end
 
   # we can't just use ulong, windows has different int sizing rules
   if FFI::Platform::ADDRESS_SIZE == 64
@@ -568,9 +600,7 @@ module GObject
 # {Image#median}.
 
 module Vips
-  extend FFI::Library
-
-  ffi_lib library_name("vips", 42)
+  # we've already opened the libvips library
 
   LOG_DOMAIN = "VIPS"
   GLib.set_log_domain LOG_DOMAIN