diff --git a/src/gtk/gnome/gvfs.cpp b/src/gtk/gnome/gvfs.cpp
index b1fc2b8d66..4db0231d6e 100644
--- a/src/gtk/gnome/gvfs.cpp
+++ b/src/gtk/gnome/gvfs.cpp
@@ -85,7 +85,15 @@ wxGnomeVFSLibrary::wxGnomeVFSLibrary()
 wxGnomeVFSLibrary::~wxGnomeVFSLibrary()
 {
     if (m_gnome_vfs_lib)
+    {
+        // we crash on exit later (i.e. after main() finishes) if we unload
+        // this library, apparently it inserts some hooks in other libraries to
+        // which we link implicitly (GTK+ itself?) which are not uninstalled
+        // when it's unloaded resulting in this crash, so just leave it in
+        // memory -- it's a lesser evil
+        m_gnome_vfs_lib->.Detach();
         delete m_gnome_vfs_lib;
+    }
 }
 
 bool wxGnomeVFSLibrary::IsOk()