diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 1e49d52718..d27796e85e 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -712,6 +712,7 @@ foreach header : ['crypt.h',
                   'linux/memfd.h',
                   'linux/vm_sockets.h',
                   'sys/auxv.h',
+                  'threads.h',
                   'valgrind/memcheck.h',
                   'valgrind/valgrind.h',
                   'linux/time_types.h',
diff --git a/src/basic/capability-util.c b/src/basic/capability-util.c
index fa74b5b9c6..df04d461ad 100644
--- a/src/basic/capability-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/capability-util.c
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include "log.h"
 #include "macro.h"
 #include "missing_prctl.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
 #include "user-util.h"
 #include "util.h"
diff --git a/src/basic/cgroup-util.c b/src/basic/cgroup-util.c
index 17c0170b82..0b4731f050 100644
--- a/src/basic/cgroup-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/cgroup-util.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "login-util.h"
 #include "macro.h"
 #include "missing_magic.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "mkdir.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
 #include "path-util.h"
diff --git a/src/basic/log.c b/src/basic/log.c
index cd420f0153..f22bbc1bb5 100644
--- a/src/basic/log.c
+++ b/src/basic/log.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "log.h"
 #include "macro.h"
 #include "missing_syscall.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
 #include "proc-cmdline.h"
 #include "process-util.h"
diff --git a/src/basic/macro.h b/src/basic/macro.h
index e6f89608f4..f5d63ce408 100644
--- a/src/basic/macro.h
+++ b/src/basic/macro.h
@@ -356,20 +356,6 @@ static inline int __coverity_check_and_return__(int condition) {
              p != (typeof(p)) POINTER_MAX;                                               \
              p = *(++_l))
 
-/* Define C11 thread_local attribute even on older gcc compiler
- * version */
-#ifndef thread_local
-/*
- * Don't break on glibc < 2.16 that doesn't define __STDC_NO_THREADS__
- * see http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=53769
- */
-#if __STDC_VERSION__ >= 201112L && !(defined(__STDC_NO_THREADS__) || (defined(__GNU_LIBRARY__) && __GLIBC__ == 2 && __GLIBC_MINOR__ < 16))
-#define thread_local _Thread_local
-#else
-#define thread_local __thread
-#endif
-#endif
-
 #define DEFINE_TRIVIAL_DESTRUCTOR(name, type, func)             \
         static inline void name(type *p) {                      \
                 func(p);                                        \
diff --git a/src/basic/memory-util.c b/src/basic/memory-util.c
index 2983762117..84b5b2d5cb 100644
--- a/src/basic/memory-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/memory-util.c
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 
 #include "memory-util.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 
 size_t page_size(void) {
         static thread_local size_t pgsz = 0;
diff --git a/src/basic/missing_threads.h b/src/basic/missing_threads.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb3b72249b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/basic/missing_threads.h
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later */
+#pragma once
+
+/* If threads.h doesn't exist, then define our own thread_local to match C11's thread_local. */
+#if HAVE_THREADS_H
+#  include <threads.h>
+#elif !(defined(thread_local))
+/* Don't break on glibc < 2.16 that doesn't define __STDC_NO_THREADS__
+ * see https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=53769 */
+#  if __STDC_VERSION__ >= 201112L && !(defined(__STDC_NO_THREADS__) || (defined(__GNU_LIBRARY__) && __GLIBC__ == 2 && __GLIBC_MINOR__ < 16))
+#    define thread_local _Thread_local
+#  else
+#    define thread_local __thread
+#  endif
+#endif
diff --git a/src/basic/process-util.c b/src/basic/process-util.c
index 8a38f46897..850aac238e 100644
--- a/src/basic/process-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/process-util.c
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 #include "memory-util.h"
 #include "missing_sched.h"
 #include "missing_syscall.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "namespace-util.h"
 #include "path-util.h"
 #include "process-util.h"
diff --git a/src/basic/random-util.c b/src/basic/random-util.c
index a9fe25432c..d83e172447 100644
--- a/src/basic/random-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/random-util.c
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #include "io-util.h"
 #include "missing_random.h"
 #include "missing_syscall.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
 #include "random-util.h"
 #include "siphash24.h"
diff --git a/src/basic/signal-util.c b/src/basic/signal-util.c
index b61c18b2de..fdbe7f43ac 100644
--- a/src/basic/signal-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/signal-util.c
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 #include "errno-util.h"
 #include "macro.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
 #include "signal-util.h"
 #include "stdio-util.h"
diff --git a/src/basic/time-util.c b/src/basic/time-util.c
index 0ad8de4b9a..16cc9a4934 100644
--- a/src/basic/time-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/time-util.c
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #include "io-util.h"
 #include "log.h"
 #include "macro.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "missing_timerfd.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
 #include "path-util.h"
diff --git a/src/basic/virt.c b/src/basic/virt.c
index 699815f702..43970bdb54 100644
--- a/src/basic/virt.c
+++ b/src/basic/virt.c
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #include "fd-util.h"
 #include "fileio.h"
 #include "macro.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "process-util.h"
 #include "stat-util.h"
 #include "string-table.h"
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/sd-bus.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/sd-bus.c
index 287d7d4753..fcc2948751 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/sd-bus.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/sd-bus.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include "macro.h"
 #include "memory-util.h"
 #include "missing_syscall.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
 #include "path-util.h"
 #include "process-util.h"
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c
index b15678d0f7..00bf6ac1e5 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 #include "macro.h"
 #include "memory-util.h"
 #include "missing_syscall.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "prioq.h"
 #include "process-util.h"
 #include "set.h"
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-id128/sd-id128.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-id128/sd-id128.c
index 09c3401ca1..4f687fa083 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-id128/sd-id128.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-id128/sd-id128.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include "io-util.h"
 #include "macro.h"
 #include "missing_syscall.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "random-util.h"
 #include "user-util.h"
 #include "util.h"
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-resolve/sd-resolve.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-resolve/sd-resolve.c
index fdc09ff20f..a2d5b62c0e 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-resolve/sd-resolve.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-resolve/sd-resolve.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "list.h"
 #include "memory-util.h"
 #include "missing_syscall.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "process-util.h"
 #include "resolve-private.h"
 #include "socket-util.h"
diff --git a/src/login/logind-inhibit.c b/src/login/logind-inhibit.c
index dbb58e4ac3..b20861c04b 100644
--- a/src/login/logind-inhibit.c
+++ b/src/login/logind-inhibit.c
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #include "io-util.h"
 #include "logind-dbus.h"
 #include "logind-inhibit.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "mkdir-label.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
 #include "path-util.h"
diff --git a/src/network/networkd-route-util.c b/src/network/networkd-route-util.c
index d7a80ed40f..44cdddfab9 100644
--- a/src/network/networkd-route-util.c
+++ b/src/network/networkd-route-util.c
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include <linux/rtnetlink.h>
 
 #include "alloc-util.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "networkd-address.h"
 #include "networkd-link.h"
 #include "networkd-manager.h"
diff --git a/src/nss-systemd/nss-systemd.c b/src/nss-systemd/nss-systemd.c
index e87f1d31b3..fdc334659f 100644
--- a/src/nss-systemd/nss-systemd.c
+++ b/src/nss-systemd/nss-systemd.c
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include "fd-util.h"
 #include "log.h"
 #include "macro.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "nss-systemd.h"
 #include "nss-util.h"
 #include "pthread-util.h"
diff --git a/src/shared/cgroup-setup.c b/src/shared/cgroup-setup.c
index a1fabc73c1..e797eaee74 100644
--- a/src/shared/cgroup-setup.c
+++ b/src/shared/cgroup-setup.c
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include "fd-util.h"
 #include "fileio.h"
 #include "fs-util.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "mkdir.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
 #include "path-util.h"
diff --git a/src/shared/psi-util.c b/src/shared/psi-util.c
index a3b553cb44..af8e278bd0 100644
--- a/src/shared/psi-util.c
+++ b/src/shared/psi-util.c
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include "extract-word.h"
 #include "fd-util.h"
 #include "fileio.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
 #include "psi-util.h"
 #include "string-util.h"
diff --git a/src/shared/uid-alloc-range.c b/src/shared/uid-alloc-range.c
index dcecdbe343..1953119422 100644
--- a/src/shared/uid-alloc-range.c
+++ b/src/shared/uid-alloc-range.c
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include "chase-symlinks.h"
 #include "fd-util.h"
 #include "fileio.h"
+#include "missing_threads.h"
 #include "string-util.h"
 #include "uid-alloc-range.h"
 #include "user-util.h"