diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index aa88247d..083c3213 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 8/9/14 started 7.40.10
 - icc_import and icc_transform checks the input profile for compatibility 
   with the image, thanks James
+- try to make vips_thread_shutdown() optional
 
 8/9/14 started 7.40.9
 - support jfif resunit "none"
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/buffer.c b/libvips/iofuncs/buffer.c
index d5a6fd1a..5b5f9237 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/buffer.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/buffer.c
@@ -582,24 +582,12 @@ vips_buffer_print( VipsBuffer *buffer )
 static void
 vips__buffer_init_cb( VipsBufferThread *buffer_thread )
 {
-	/* This is a mem leak, not catastrophic.
-	 */
-
-	/* Threads (including the main thread) must call 
-	 * vips_thread_shutdown() before exiting. Check that they have.
+	/* We only come here if vips_thread_shutdown() was not called for this
+	 * thread. Do our best to clean up.
 	 *
-	 * We can't save automatically, because the shutdown order is
-	 * important. We must free all memory before saving the thread
-	 * profile, for example.
-	 *
-	 * We can't do the freeing in this callback since GPrivate has already
-	 * stopped working. 
+	 * GPrivate has stopped working, be careful not to touch that. 
 	 */
-
-	vips_warn( "VipsBuffer", 
-		_( "vips_thread_shutdown() not called for thread %p, see %s" ),
-		g_thread_self(),
-		"https://github.com/jcupitt/ruby-vips/issues/55" ); 
+	buffer_thread_free( buffer_thread );
 }
 
 /* Init the buffer cache system.
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/gate.c b/libvips/iofuncs/gate.c
index 59d6e5a4..dc317bcd 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/gate.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/gate.c
@@ -166,9 +166,6 @@ vips_thread_profile_free( VipsThreadProfile *profile )
 {
 	VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips_thread_profile_free: %s\n", profile->name ); 
 
-	if( vips__thread_profile ) 
-		vips_thread_profile_save( profile ); 
-
 	VIPS_FREEF( g_hash_table_destroy, profile->gates );
 	VIPS_FREEF( vips_thread_gate_free, profile->memory );
 	VIPS_FREE( profile );
@@ -183,20 +180,15 @@ vips__thread_profile_stop( void )
 
 static void
 vips__thread_profile_init_cb( VipsThreadProfile *profile )
-{  
-	/* Threads (including the main thread) must call 
-	 * vips_thread_shutdown() before exiting. Check that they have.
+{
+	/* We only come here if vips_thread_shutdown() was not called for this
+	 * thread. Do our best to clean up.
 	 *
-	 * We can't save automatically, because the shutdown order is
-	 * important. We must free all memory before saving the thread
-	 * profile, for example.
+	 * GPrivate has stopped working, be careful not to touch that. 
 	 *
-	 * We can't do the freeing in this callback since GPrivate has already
-	 * stopped working. 
+	 * Don't try to save: this is an emergency recovery path. 
 	 */
-	vips_warn( "VipsBuffer", 
-		_( "vips_thread_shutdown() not called for thread %p" ), 
-		g_thread_self() ); 
+	vips_thread_profile_free( profile );
 }
 
 static void
@@ -269,6 +261,9 @@ vips__thread_profile_detach( void )
 	VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips__thread_profile_detach:\n" ); 
 
 	if( (profile = vips_thread_profile_get()) ) {
+		if( vips__thread_profile ) 
+			vips_thread_profile_save( profile ); 
+
 		vips_thread_profile_free( profile );
 		g_private_set( vips_thread_profile_key, NULL );
 	}