diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 05cab01..d9cc2c1 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -37,6 +37,21 @@ if get_option('b_ndebug') == 'true'
   add_project_arguments('-Wno-error=unused-but-set-variable', '-Wno-error=unused-variable', language: 'c')
 endif
 
+# HACK: between Jan 5 and Jan 8 2024, Gentoo changed something that causes
+# hundreds of warnings when compiling the vala-generated C code; ignore these
+if get_option('gentoo-hacks')
+  add_project_arguments(
+    '-Wno-error',
+    '-Wno-error=incompatible-pointer-types',
+    '-Wno-error=pointer-sign',
+    '-Wno-error=unused-function',
+    '-Wno-error=unused-label',
+    '-Wno-error=unused-but-set-variable',
+    '-Wno-error=unused-variable',
+    '-Wno-error=unused-value',
+    language: 'c')
+endif
+
 conf = configuration_data()
 cc = meson.get_compiler('c')
 valac = meson.get_compiler('vala')
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 0383d34..8cf2e96 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -2,3 +2,8 @@ option('gtk_doc',
        type : 'boolean',
        value : false,
        description : 'use gtk-doc to build documentation')
+
+option('gentoo-hacks',
+       type : 'boolean',
+       value : false,
+       description : 'disable gcc fatal warnings, for Gentoo builds')
diff --git a/tests/run-gentoo b/tests/run-gentoo
index bb0cb0e..172cd3d 100755
--- a/tests/run-gentoo
+++ b/tests/run-gentoo
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ git config --global safe.directory /source
 
 cd /source
 export VALAC=\$(ls /usr/bin/valac-* |sort | tail -n1)
-meson setup /tmp/dbg --buildtype debug --werror
+meson setup /tmp/dbg --buildtype debug --werror -Dgentoo-hacks=true
 
 export BRITTLE_TESTS="${BRITTLE_TESTS:-}"
 meson test -C /tmp/dbg -v --num-processes=1