diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1f0c6060..e3f08131 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1373,6 +1373,8 @@ dnl ================================================================
 dnl Checks for library functions.
 dnl ================================================================
 
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS_ONCE([alarm])
+
 dnl The 'ffs' function is part of C99 so it isn't always
 dnl available. Cogl has a fallback if needed.
 dnl
diff --git a/test-fixtures/test-utils.c b/test-fixtures/test-utils.c
index ea9ad76c..7c58a50d 100644
--- a/test-fixtures/test-utils.c
+++ b/test-fixtures/test-utils.c
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
+#ifdef HAVE_UNISTD_H
+#include <unistd.h>
+#endif
+
 #include "test-unit.h"
 #include "test-utils.h"
 
@@ -146,6 +150,11 @@ test_utils_init (TestFlags requirement_flags,
                 "$ make test-report");
   counter++;
 
+#ifdef HAVE_ALARM
+  /* Kill the test with SIGALRM if it takes more than this many seconds */
+  alarm (120);
+#endif
+
   if (is_boolean_env_set ("COGL_TEST_VERBOSE") ||
       is_boolean_env_set ("V"))
     cogl_test_is_verbose = TRUE;