diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a4791bc..35fabcc 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.14.1])
 dnl various requisites
 SIGCPP_VERSION=2.0.10
 GTKMM_VERSION=2.8.0
-LIBGLADEMM_VERSION=2.6.1
+LIBGLADEMM_VERSION=2.6.0
 CAIRO_VERSION=1.0.0
 
 dnl c++ compiler and flags
diff --git a/src/backend/string_utils.cc b/src/backend/string_utils.cc
index 37206c2..5ed29cf 100644
--- a/src/backend/string_utils.cc
+++ b/src/backend/string_utils.cc
@@ -29,6 +29,14 @@ using Glib::ustring;
 namespace sgpem
 {
 
+	/* Force template instantiation to allow visibility outside this DSO */
+template SG_DLLEXPORT int string_to<int>(const Glib::ustring&);
+template SG_DLLEXPORT float string_to<float>(const Glib::ustring&);
+
+	// Specialized further down in this file:
+	// template SG_DLLEXPORT bool string_to<bool>(const Glib::ustring&);
+
+
 /**
  \brief A function that converts a Unicode string to an integer value
       
@@ -105,7 +113,7 @@ string_to(const ustring& str) throw(domain_error)
 }
 
 template <>
-bool
+SG_DLLEXPORT bool
 string_to<bool>(const Glib::ustring& str) throw(domain_error)
 {
   if(tokenize(str).size() != 1)
@@ -227,7 +235,4 @@ tokenize(const ustring& str)
   return tokens;
 }
 
-template int string_to<int>(const Glib::ustring&);
-template float string_to<float>(const Glib::ustring&);
-template bool string_to<bool>(const Glib::ustring&);
 }
diff --git a/src/backend/string_utils.hh b/src/backend/string_utils.hh
index 2341763..167379f 100644
--- a/src/backend/string_utils.hh
+++ b/src/backend/string_utils.hh
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ namespace sgpem
   */
   void SG_DLLEXPORT string_to_float(const Glib::ustring&, float&);
 
-  Tokens tokenize(const Glib::ustring& str);
+  Tokens SG_DLLEXPORT tokenize(const Glib::ustring& str);
 }
 
 #endif