diff --git a/rust/src/cxxrsutil.rs b/rust/src/cxxrsutil.rs
index dcee49d2..4daddfbe 100644
--- a/rust/src/cxxrsutil.rs
+++ b/rust/src/cxxrsutil.rs
@@ -95,8 +95,8 @@ macro_rules! cxxrs_bind {
 // When extending this list, also update rpmostree-cxxrs-prelude.h and lib.rs
 // This macro is special to ostree types currently.
 cxxrs_bind!(Ostree, ostree, ostree_sys, [Sysroot, Repo, Deployment]);
-cxxrs_bind!(G, gio, gio_sys, [Cancellable]);
 cxxrs_bind!(G, glib, gobject_sys, [Object]);
+cxxrs_bind!(G, gio, gio_sys, [Cancellable, DBusConnection]);
 cxxrs_bind!(G, glib, glib_sys, [VariantDict]);
 
 // An error type helper; separate from the GObject bridging
diff --git a/rust/src/lib.rs b/rust/src/lib.rs
index 7c4255bf..f2fef4f8 100644
--- a/rust/src/lib.rs
+++ b/rust/src/lib.rs
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ pub mod ffi {
         type OstreeDeployment = crate::FFIOstreeDeployment;
         type GObject = crate::FFIGObject;
         type GCancellable = crate::FFIGCancellable;
+        type GDBusConnection = crate::FFIGDBusConnection;
         type GVariantDict = crate::FFIGVariantDict;
 
         #[namespace = "dnfcxx"]
@@ -295,6 +296,14 @@ pub mod ffi {
         fn main_print_error(msg: &str);
     }
 
+    unsafe extern "C++" {
+        include!("rpmostree-clientlib.h");
+        fn client_require_root() -> Result<()>;
+        type ClientConnection;
+        fn new_client_connection() -> Result<UniquePtr<ClientConnection>>;
+        fn get_connection<'a>(self: Pin<&'a mut ClientConnection>) -> Pin<&'a mut GDBusConnection>;
+    }
+
     unsafe extern "C++" {
         include!("rpmostree-diff.hpp");
         type RPMDiff;
diff --git a/rust/src/testutils.rs b/rust/src/testutils.rs
index 2ad0eedc..bbc1d8a8 100644
--- a/rust/src/testutils.rs
+++ b/rust/src/testutils.rs
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ enum Opt {
     GenerateSyntheticUpgrade(SyntheticUpgradeOpts),
     /// Validate that we can parse the output of `rpm-ostree status --json`.
     ValidateParseStatus,
+    /// Test that we can 🐄
+    Moo,
 }
 
 /// Returns `true` if a file is ELF; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executable_and_Linkable_Format
@@ -226,11 +228,54 @@ fn validate_parse_status() -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+fn test_moo() -> Result<()> {
+    use glib::translate::*;
+
+    crate::ffi::client_require_root()?;
+
+    let mut client_conn = crate::ffi::new_client_connection()?;
+    let mut bus_conn = client_conn.pin_mut().get_connection();
+    let bus_conn = bus_conn.gobj_wrap();
+
+    // Unfortunately glib bindings don't support tuples, we need
+    // `(b)` i.e. the 1-tuple with a boolean, and not just `b`.
+    let params = unsafe {
+        let truev = glib_sys::g_variant_new_boolean(true.to_glib());
+        let r = glib_sys::g_variant_new_tuple(&truev as *const *mut _, 1);
+        glib_sys::g_variant_ref_sink(r);
+        from_glib_full(r)
+    };
+    let reply = bus_conn.call_sync(
+        Some("org.projectatomic.rpmostree1"),
+        "/org/projectatomic/rpmostree1/fedora_coreos",
+        "org.projectatomic.rpmostree1.OSExperimental",
+        "Moo",
+        Some(&params),
+        Some(glib::VariantTy::new("(s)").unwrap()),
+        gio::DBusCallFlags::NONE,
+        -1,
+        gio::NONE_CANCELLABLE,
+    )?;
+    let reply_child: glib::Variant = unsafe {
+        from_glib_full(glib_sys::g_variant_get_child_value(
+            reply.to_glib_none().0,
+            0,
+        ))
+    };
+    // Unwrap safety: We validated the (s) above.
+    let reply = reply_child.get_str().unwrap();
+    let cow = "🐄\n";
+    assert_eq!(reply, cow);
+    println!("ok {}", cow.trim());
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 pub(crate) fn testutils_entrypoint(args: Vec<String>) -> CxxResult<()> {
     let opt = Opt::from_iter(args.iter());
     match opt {
         Opt::GenerateSyntheticUpgrade(ref opts) => update_os_tree(opts)?,
         Opt::ValidateParseStatus => validate_parse_status()?,
+        Opt::Moo => test_moo()?,
     };
     Ok(())
 }
diff --git a/src/app/libmain.cxx b/src/app/libmain.cxx
index 90ad63e8..ba8f487d 100644
--- a/src/app/libmain.cxx
+++ b/src/app/libmain.cxx
@@ -192,6 +192,17 @@ option_context_new_with_commands (RpmOstreeCommandInvocation *invocation,
   return util::move_nullify (context);
 }
 
+namespace rpmostreecxx {
+
+void 
+client_require_root(void)
+{
+  if (getuid () != 0 && getenv ("RPMOSTREE_SUPPRESS_REQUIRES_ROOT_CHECK") == NULL)
+    throw std::runtime_error("This command requires root privileges");
+}
+
+} /* namespace */
+
 gboolean
 rpmostree_option_context_parse (GOptionContext *context,
                                 const GOptionEntry *main_entries,
@@ -256,10 +267,8 @@ rpmostree_option_context_parse (GOptionContext *context,
       exit (EXIT_SUCCESS);
     }
 
-  if ((flags & RPM_OSTREE_BUILTIN_FLAG_REQUIRES_ROOT) > 0
-      && getuid () != 0
-      && getenv ("RPMOSTREE_SUPPRESS_REQUIRES_ROOT_CHECK") == NULL)
-    return glnx_throw (error, "This command requires root privileges");
+  if ((flags & RPM_OSTREE_BUILTIN_FLAG_REQUIRES_ROOT) > 0)
+    rpmostreecxx::client_require_root();
 
   if (use_daemon)
     {
diff --git a/src/app/rpmostree-builtins.h b/src/app/rpmostree-builtins.h
index de23e2b9..5b6ae003 100644
--- a/src/app/rpmostree-builtins.h
+++ b/src/app/rpmostree-builtins.h
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "ostree.h"
 #include "rpmostree-builtin-types.h"
 #include "rpmostree-clientlib.h"
+#include "rpmostree-cxxrs.h"
 
 G_BEGIN_DECLS
 
diff --git a/src/app/rpmostree-clientlib.cxx b/src/app/rpmostree-clientlib.cxx
index 46678a18..a0e938ad 100644
--- a/src/app/rpmostree-clientlib.cxx
+++ b/src/app/rpmostree-clientlib.cxx
@@ -240,6 +240,22 @@ app_load_sysroot_impl (const char *sysroot, gboolean force_peer,
   return TRUE;
 }
 
+namespace rpmostreecxx {
+
+std::unique_ptr<ClientConnection>
+new_client_connection()
+{
+  g_autoptr(GError) local_error = NULL;
+  GDBusConnection *conn = NULL;
+  GBusType bus_type;
+
+  if (!app_load_sysroot_impl(NULL, false, NULL, &conn, &bus_type, &local_error))
+    util::throw_gerror(local_error);
+  return std::make_unique<ClientConnection>(conn, bus_type);
+}
+
+} // namespace
+
 /**
 * rpmostree_load_sysroot
 * @sysroot: sysroot path
diff --git a/src/app/rpmostree-clientlib.h b/src/app/rpmostree-clientlib.h
index 81a47704..75554dc7 100644
--- a/src/app/rpmostree-clientlib.h
+++ b/src/app/rpmostree-clientlib.h
@@ -29,6 +29,35 @@
 #include <string.h>
 #include <ostree.h>
 
+#include <memory>
+
+namespace rpmostreecxx {
+
+class ClientConnection final {
+private:
+    GDBusConnection *conn;
+    GBusType bus_type;
+public:
+    ClientConnection(GDBusConnection *connp, GBusType bus_typep) : conn(connp), bus_type(bus_typep) {}
+    ~ClientConnection() {
+        g_clear_object(&conn);
+    }
+
+    GDBusConnection &get_connection() {
+        return *conn;
+    }
+
+    GBusType get_bus_type() const {
+        return bus_type;
+    }
+};
+
+void client_require_root();
+
+std::unique_ptr<ClientConnection> new_client_connection();
+
+} // namespace
+
 G_BEGIN_DECLS
 
 #define BUS_NAME "org.projectatomic.rpmostree1"
diff --git a/src/libpriv/rpmostree-cxxrs-prelude.h b/src/libpriv/rpmostree-cxxrs-prelude.h
index d20b6adc..8436d163 100644
--- a/src/libpriv/rpmostree-cxxrs-prelude.h
+++ b/src/libpriv/rpmostree-cxxrs-prelude.h
@@ -28,8 +28,9 @@ namespace rpmostreecxx {
     typedef ::OstreeSysroot OstreeSysroot;
     typedef ::OstreeRepo OstreeRepo;
     typedef ::OstreeDeployment OstreeDeployment;
-    typedef ::GCancellable GCancellable;
     typedef ::GObject GObject;
+    typedef ::GCancellable GCancellable;
+    typedef ::GDBusConnection GDBusConnection;
     typedef ::GVariantDict GVariantDict;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/kolainst/nondestructive/misc.sh b/tests/kolainst/nondestructive/misc.sh
index ce8aa320..9ccbd5e2 100755
--- a/tests/kolainst/nondestructive/misc.sh
+++ b/tests/kolainst/nondestructive/misc.sh
@@ -60,17 +60,8 @@ fi
 assert_file_has_content err.txt 'Unknown.*command'
 echo "ok error on unknown command"
 
-stateroot=$(dirname $(ls /ostree/deploy/*/var))
-ospath=/org/projectatomic/rpmostree1/${stateroot//-/_}
 # related: https://github.com/coreos/fedora-coreos-config/issues/194
-(export LANG=C.utf8
- # And for some reason this one is set in kola runs but not interactive shells
- unset LC_ALL
- gdbus call \
-  --system --dest org.projectatomic.rpmostree1 \
-  --object-path /org/projectatomic/rpmostree1/fedora_coreos \
-  --method org.projectatomic.rpmostree1.OSExperimental.Moo true > moo.txt
- assert_file_has_content moo.txt '🐄')
+rpm-ostree testutils moo
 echo "ok moo"
 
 # Reload as root https://github.com/projectatomic/rpm-ostree/issues/976