diff --git a/libvips/Makefile.am b/libvips/Makefile.am
index 4fe34b05..a300aa8a 100644
--- a/libvips/Makefile.am
+++ b/libvips/Makefile.am
@@ -81,14 +81,14 @@ INTROSPECTION_COMPILER_ARGS = --includedir=$(srcdir)
 if HAVE_INTROSPECTION
 
 AM_CPPFLAGS = \
-	     `pkg-config gobject-introspection-1.0 --cflags` \
 	      -I${top_srcdir}/libvips/include \
 	      @VIPS_CFLAGS@ \
-	      @VIPS_INCLUDES@
+	      @VIPS_INCLUDES@ \
+	      @INTROSPECTION_CFLAGS@ 
 AM_LDFLAGS = \
-	     `pkg-config gobject-introspection-1.0 --libs` \
+	     @INTROSPECTION_LIBS@ \
 	     @LDFLAGS@ 
-LDADD = @VIPS_CFLAGS@ libvips.la @VIPS_LIBS@ 
+LDADD = @INTROSPECTION_LIBS@ @VIPS_CFLAGS@ libvips.la @VIPS_LIBS@ 
 if ENABLE_CXX
 LDADD += @VIPS_CXX_LIBS@
 endif
diff --git a/libvips/introspect.c b/libvips/introspect.c
index 0b7b8334..4ebdcde9 100644
--- a/libvips/introspect.c
+++ b/libvips/introspect.c
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@
 
  */
 
+/*
+#define DEBUG
+ */
+
 #ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
 #include <config.h>
 #endif /*HAVE_CONFIG_H*/
@@ -46,7 +50,7 @@ static char *main_option_introspect_dump = NULL;
 
 static GOptionEntry main_option[] = {
 	{ "introspect-dump", 'i', 0, 
-		G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &main_option_introspect_dump, 
+		G_OPTION_ARG_STRING, &main_option_introspect_dump, 
 		N_( "dump introspection data" ), NULL },
 	{ NULL }
 };
@@ -60,6 +64,7 @@ main( int argc, char *argv[] )
 
 	if( VIPS_INIT( argv[0] ) )
 	        vips_error_exit( "unable to start VIPS" );
+
 	textdomain( GETTEXT_PACKAGE );
 	setlocale( LC_ALL, "" );
 
@@ -81,6 +86,21 @@ main( int argc, char *argv[] )
 
 	g_option_context_free( context );
 
+#ifdef DEBUG
+	/* For debugging it's handy to have a copy of the input file.
+	 */
+	if( main_option_introspect_dump ) { 
+		char **args;
+		char *cmd;
+
+		args = g_strsplit( main_option_introspect_dump, ",", 2 );
+		cmd = g_strdup_printf( "cp %s ~/functions.txt", args[0]);
+		printf( "introspect: running '%s'\n", cmd );
+		system( cmd );
+		g_free( cmd );
+	}
+#endif /*DEBUG*/
+
 	if( main_option_introspect_dump &&
 		!g_irepository_dump( main_option_introspect_dump, &error ) ) {
 		if( error ) {