diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a32ff4b..089dfbe 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -146,6 +146,10 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(regex,
   [  --disable-regex         omit regular expression interfaces],,
   enable_regex=yes)
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(gmp,
+  [  --disable-gmp	     omit high performance bignums],,
+  enable_gmp=yes)
+
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([deprecated],
   AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-deprecated],[omit deprecated features]))
 
@@ -869,15 +873,20 @@ fi
 AC_CACHE_SAVE
 
 dnl GMP tests
+if test "x$enable_gmp" != xno ; then
 AC_LIB_HAVE_LINKFLAGS([gmp],
   [],
   [#include <gmp.h>],
   [mpz_import (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0);])
 
 if test "x$HAVE_LIBGMP" != "xyes"; then
-  AC_MSG_ERROR([GNU MP 4.1 or greater not found, see README])
+  AC_MSG_NOTICE([GNU MP 4.1 or greater not found, see README])
+  enable_gmp=no
+fi
+fi
+if test "x$enable_gmp" = xno ; then
+  AC_LIBOBJ([mini-gmp])
 fi
-
 dnl GNU libunistring is checked for by Gnulib's `libunistring' module.
 if test "x$LTLIBUNISTRING" = "x"; then
   AC_MSG_ERROR([GNU libunistring is required, please install it.])
@@ -1253,7 +1262,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
 # Boehm's GC library
 #
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES([BDW_GC], [bdw-gc])
+# PKG_CHECK_MODULES([BDW_GC], [bdw-gc])
 
 save_LIBS="$LIBS"
 LIBS="$BDW_GC_LIBS $LIBS"
diff --git a/libguile.h b/libguile.h
index 7ac98a5..457dd66 100644
--- a/libguile.h
+++ b/libguile.h
@@ -22,8 +22,11 @@
 
 /* This needs to be included outside of the extern "C" block.
  */
+#if HAVE_LIBGMP
 #include <gmp.h>
-
+#else
+#include "libguile/mini-gmp.h"
+#endif
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 extern "C" {
 #endif
diff --git a/libguile/bytevectors.c b/libguile/bytevectors.c
index 811e8d8..240e457 100644
--- a/libguile/bytevectors.c
+++ b/libguile/bytevectors.c
@@ -24,7 +24,11 @@
 #include <alloca.h>
 #include <assert.h>
 
+#if HAVE_LIBGMP
 #include <gmp.h>
+#else
+#include "mini-gmp.h"
+#endif
 
 #include "libguile/_scm.h"
 #include "libguile/extensions.h"
diff --git a/libguile/init.c b/libguile/init.c
index 35ab856..bb79422 100644
--- a/libguile/init.c
+++ b/libguile/init.c
@@ -29,7 +29,11 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
+#if HAVE_LIBGMP
 #include <gmp.h>
+#else
+#include "mini-gmp.h"
+#endif
 
 #include "libguile/_scm.h"
 
diff --git a/libguile/numbers.h b/libguile/numbers.h
index b7bcfe4..166f222 100644
--- a/libguile/numbers.h
+++ b/libguile/numbers.h
@@ -22,9 +22,11 @@
  */
 
 
-
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBGMP
 #include <gmp.h>
-
+#else
+#include "mini-gmp.h"
+#endif
 #include "libguile/__scm.h"
 #include "libguile/print.h"
 
diff --git a/libguile/random.c b/libguile/random.c
index 8bc0d87..c216245 100644
--- a/libguile/random.c
+++ b/libguile/random.c
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@
 
 #include "libguile/_scm.h"
 
+#if HAVE_LIBGMP
 #include <gmp.h>
+#else
+#include "mini-gmp.h"
+#endif
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <math.h>
 #include <string.h>
diff --git a/libguile/socket.c b/libguile/socket.c
index d085d33..5ec20a2 100644
--- a/libguile/socket.c
+++ b/libguile/socket.c
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@
 #endif
 
 #include <errno.h>
+#if HAVE_LIBGMP
 #include <gmp.h>
+#else
+#include "mini-gmp.h"
+#endif
 
 #include "libguile/_scm.h"
 #include "libguile/arrays.h"