diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING b/CONTRIBUTING
index 2796abc4..0b0f9044 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ Patches have to be sent by email to libabigail@sourceware.org.
 Please read the file COMMIT-LOG-GUIDELINES in the source tree to learn
 about how to write the commit log accompanying the patch.
 
+If you are adding a new public header file to the project, or if you
+are defining a new entry point to the API of libabigail, please take
+some time to read the file VISIBILITY about how you need to handle the
+visibility of symbols that are part of the API and ABI of libabigail.
+
 Make sure you sign your patch.  To learn about signing, please read
 the "Sign your work" chapter below.
 
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 6e2a32f9..9d2876df 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@ EXTRA_DIST = 			\
 autoconf-archive/ax_check_python_modules.m4 \
 autoconf-archive/ax_prog_python_version.m4 \
 autoconf-archive/ax_compare_version.m4 \
-NEWS README COPYING ChangeLog	\
-COPYING-LGPLV2 COPYING-LGPLV3	\
+NEWS README COPYING COMPILING  \
+COMMIT-LOG-GUIDELINES VISIBILITY \
+ChangeLog COPYING-LGPLV2 COPYING-LGPLV3	\
 COPYING-GPLV3 gen-changelog.py	\
 $(headers) $(m4data_DATA) 	\
 libabigail.pc.in
diff --git a/VISIBILITY b/VISIBILITY
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b78111be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/VISIBILITY
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS FILE, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE DEFINING A NEW
+PUBLIC HEADER IN LIBABIGAIL.
+
+How symbols that are exported are controlled in libabigail
+==========================================================
+
+We try to limit the number of ELF symbols that are exported by the
+libabigail.so shared library.  We call this symbols visibility
+control.
+
+As GNU/Linux is our development platform, we control symbol visibility
+by using the visibility support of the G++ compiler.
+
+How to do so is properly explained at https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/Visibility.
+
+All symbols are hidden by default
+=================================
+
+When building translation units that make up the libabigail.so shared
+library, G++ is invoked with the -fvisibility=hidden directive.  Which
+instructs it to make symbols of functions and global variables
+*locally* defined in the shared library, *NOT* exported (or global).
+
+Exporting symbols of entities declared in public headers
+========================================================
+
+In a translation unit that is part of the libabigail.so shared
+library, before including a header file that is a public libabigail
+header (e.g, abg-ir.h), one need to declare:
+
+    #include "abg-internal.h"
+    ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
+then all the public header files inclusion (using #include directives)
+follow.  At the end of these public header files inclusion, one need
+to declare:
+
+    ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
+
+The ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS is a macro defined in abg-internal.h
+which expands to:
+
+    #pragma GCC visibility push(default)
+
+This instructs G++ to export the symbol of all global functions and
+variables definitions that are declared from that point on.
+
+The ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS is a macro defined in abg-internal.h
+which expands to:
+
+    #pragma GCC visibility pop
+
+It instructs G++ to stop exporting symbols of global functions and
+variable definition from that point on.
+
+In practice, the pair ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS,
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS allows us to only export symbols of
+global functions and variables declared in the block denoted by these
+two macros. Symbols of anything else that is declared outside of that block
+are going to be hidden, thanks to the -fvisibility=hidden option
+passed to G++.
+
+So whenever you are defining a new header file with declarations that
+ought to be part of the API of libabigail, the *definition* file which
+defines the declarations of the header file must use
+the ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS and ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+macro to include the public header.
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 84f423ad..eb9caebc 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -134,10 +134,14 @@ if test x$SUPPORTS_GCC_VISIBILITY_ATTRIBUTE = xyes; then
    AC_MSG_NOTICE([GCC visibility attribute is supported])
    AC_DEFINE([HAS_GCC_VISIBILITY_ATTRIBUTE], 1,
    	     [Defined if the compiler supports the attribution visibility syntax __attribute__((visibility("hidden")))])
+   VISIBILITY_FLAGS="-fvisibility=hidden"
 else
    AC_MSG_NOTICE([GCC visibility attribute is not supported])
+   VISIBILITY_FLAGS=
 fi
 
+AC_SUBST(VISIBILITY_FLAGS)
+
 dnl Check for dependency: libelf, libdw, libebl (elfutils)
 dnl Note that we need to use at least elfutils 0.159 but
 dnl at that time elfutils didnt have pkgconfig capabilities
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index b7adc24e..7b5156ca 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 lib_LTLIBRARIES=libabigail.la
 libabigaildir=$(libdir)
 
+AM_CXXFLAGS = $(VISIBILITY_FLAGS)
+
 if ENABLE_CXX11
 CXX11_SOURCES = abg-viz-common.cc			\
 		abg-viz-dot.cc				\
 		abg-viz-svg.cc
-AM_CXXFLAGS="-std=gnu++11"
+AM_CXXFLAGS += "-std=gnu++11"
 else
 CXX11_SOURCES =
 endif
diff --git a/src/abg-comp-filter.cc b/src/abg-comp-filter.cc
index de89f1b0..62c62139 100644
--- a/src/abg-comp-filter.cc
+++ b/src/abg-comp-filter.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // -*- Mode: C++ -*-
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
 //
 // This file is part of the GNU Application Binary Interface Generic
 // Analysis and Instrumentation Library (libabigail).  This library is
@@ -25,8 +25,15 @@
 /// This file contains definitions of diff objects filtering
 /// facilities.
 
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-comp-filter.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 namespace comparison
diff --git a/src/abg-comparison.cc b/src/abg-comparison.cc
index 0243f3ca..9f1dec72 100644
--- a/src/abg-comparison.cc
+++ b/src/abg-comparison.cc
@@ -26,15 +26,23 @@
 /// libabigail.
 
 #include <ctype.h>
+#include <libgen.h>
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <sstream>
-#include <libgen.h>
+
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-hash.h"
 #include "abg-suppression.h"
 #include "abg-comp-filter.h"
 #include "abg-sptr-utils.h"
 #include "abg-tools-utils.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-config.cc b/src/abg-config.cc
index 8b1f7eb2..88e54652 100644
--- a/src/abg-config.cc
+++ b/src/abg-config.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // -*- Mode: C++ -*-
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
 //
 // This file is part of the GNU Application Binary Interface Generic
 // Analysis and Instrumentation Library (libabigail).  This library is
@@ -20,10 +20,16 @@
 
 /// @file
 
-#include "config.h"
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-config.h"
 #include "abg-version.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 config::config()
diff --git a/src/abg-corpus.cc b/src/abg-corpus.cc
index 465d960b..891ca27b 100644
--- a/src/abg-corpus.cc
+++ b/src/abg-corpus.cc
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@
 #include <stdexcept>
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <tr1/unordered_map>
+
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-sptr-utils.h"
 #include "abg-ir.h"
 #include "abg-corpus.h"
@@ -38,6 +43,9 @@
 #include "abg-libzip-utils.h"
 #endif
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-diff-utils.cc b/src/abg-diff-utils.cc
index bf2a1db3..b8c69261 100644
--- a/src/abg-diff-utils.cc
+++ b/src/abg-diff-utils.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // -*- Mode: C++ -*-
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
 //
 // This file is part of the GNU Application Binary Interface Generic
 // Analysis and Instrumentation Library (libabigail).  This library is
@@ -19,8 +19,16 @@
 // not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 #include <cstring>
+
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-diff-utils.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 /// @file
 ///
 /// This file defines the declarations found in abg-diff-utils.h
diff --git a/src/abg-dwarf-reader.cc b/src/abg-dwarf-reader.cc
index 57110ffc..5e8ee0d4 100644
--- a/src/abg-dwarf-reader.cc
+++ b/src/abg-dwarf-reader.cc
@@ -46,10 +46,18 @@
 #include <list>
 #include <ostream>
 #include <sstream>
+
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-dwarf-reader.h"
 #include "abg-sptr-utils.h"
 #include "abg-tools-utils.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 using std::string;
 
 namespace abigail
diff --git a/src/abg-hash.cc b/src/abg-hash.cc
index 8a680535..c03cdda9 100644
--- a/src/abg-hash.cc
+++ b/src/abg-hash.cc
@@ -20,9 +20,16 @@
 
 /// @file
 
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-hash.h"
 #include "abg-ir.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-ini.cc b/src/abg-ini.cc
index 4573ec10..e1848762 100644
--- a/src/abg-ini.cc
+++ b/src/abg-ini.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // -*- Mode: C++ -*-
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
 //
 // This file is part of the GNU Application Binary Interface Generic
 // Analysis and Instrumentation Library (libabigail).  This library is
@@ -31,8 +31,16 @@
 #include <memory>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <sstream>
+
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-ini.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 namespace ini
diff --git a/src/abg-internal.h b/src/abg-internal.h
index 521a9f33..6a6ef70a 100644
--- a/src/abg-internal.h
+++ b/src/abg-internal.h
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@
 ///(function or variable) is going to be global.  External ELF files
 ///will be able to link against the symbol.
 #define ABG_EXPORTED __attribute__((visibility("default")))
-#define ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS #pagma GCC visibility push(default)
-#define ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS #pragma GCC visibility pop
+#define ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS _Pragma("GCC visibility push(default)")
+#define ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS _Pragma("GCC visibility pop")
 #else
 #define ABG_HIDDEN
 #define ABG_EXPORTED
diff --git a/src/abg-ir.cc b/src/abg-ir.cc
index 3b3573ab..a9674c93 100644
--- a/src/abg-ir.cc
+++ b/src/abg-ir.cc
@@ -33,11 +33,19 @@
 #include <sstream>
 #include <tr1/memory>
 #include <tr1/unordered_map>
+
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-sptr-utils.h"
 #include "abg-interned-str.h"
 #include "abg-ir.h"
 #include "abg-corpus.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace
 {
 /// This internal type is a tree walker that walks the sub-tree of a
diff --git a/src/abg-libxml-utils.cc b/src/abg-libxml-utils.cc
index 64a735d6..9cb30206 100644
--- a/src/abg-libxml-utils.cc
+++ b/src/abg-libxml-utils.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // -*- mode: C++ -*-
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
 //
 // This file is part of the GNU Application Binary Interface Generic
 // Analysis and Instrumentation Library (libabigail).  This library is
@@ -22,8 +22,16 @@
 
 #include <string>
 #include <iostream>
+
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-libxml-utils.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-libzip-utils.cc b/src/abg-libzip-utils.cc
index 5d8ad8f6..ba025d5a 100644
--- a/src/abg-libzip-utils.cc
+++ b/src/abg-libzip-utils.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // -*- mode: C++ -*-
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
 //
 // This file is part of the GNU Application Binary Interface Generic
 // Analysis and Instrumentation Library (libabigail).  This library is
@@ -20,12 +20,17 @@
 
 /// @file
 
-#include "config.h"
+#include "abg-internal.h"
 #ifdef WITH_ZIP_ARCHIVE
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
 
-#include <string>
 #include "abg-libzip-utils.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
+#include <string>
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-reader.cc b/src/abg-reader.cc
index 76349c6c..61118d4c 100644
--- a/src/abg-reader.cc
+++ b/src/abg-reader.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // -*- mode: C++ -*-
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
 //
 // This file is part of the GNU Application Binary Interface Generic
 // Analysis and Instrumentation Library (libabigail).  This library is
@@ -35,13 +35,22 @@
 #include <sstream>
 #include <libxml/xmlstring.h>
 #include <libxml/xmlreader.h>
+
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-libxml-utils.h"
+#include "abg-reader.h"
 #include "abg-corpus.h"
 
 #ifdef WITH_ZIP_ARCHIVE
 #include "abg-libzip-utils.h"
 #endif
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-suppression.cc b/src/abg-suppression.cc
index e5743a43..4e1a7ee6 100644
--- a/src/abg-suppression.cc
+++ b/src/abg-suppression.cc
@@ -25,12 +25,19 @@
 /// This contains the implementation of the suppression engine of
 /// libabigail.
 
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-suppression.h"
 #include "abg-ini.h"
 #include "abg-sptr-utils.h"
 #include "abg-comp-filter.h"
 #include "abg-tools-utils.h"
 
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-tools-utils.cc b/src/abg-tools-utils.cc
index bece9a17..480155b0 100644
--- a/src/abg-tools-utils.cc
+++ b/src/abg-tools-utils.cc
@@ -33,9 +33,17 @@
 #include <fstream>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <sstream>
+
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include <abg-ir.h>
 #include "abg-tools-utils.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 using std::string;
 
 namespace abigail
diff --git a/src/abg-traverse.cc b/src/abg-traverse.cc
index 9d5b1184..98e2690a 100644
--- a/src/abg-traverse.cc
+++ b/src/abg-traverse.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // -*- Mode: C++ -*-
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
 //
 // This file is part of the GNU Application Binary Interface Generic
 // Analysis and Instrumentation Library (libabigail).  This library is
@@ -20,8 +20,15 @@
 
 /// @file
 
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-traverse.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-viz-common.cc b/src/abg-viz-common.cc
index 531182e5..e7a97536 100644
--- a/src/abg-viz-common.cc
+++ b/src/abg-viz-common.cc
@@ -18,10 +18,18 @@
 // License along with this program; see the file COPYING-LGPLV3.  If
 // not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-#include "abg-viz-svg.h"
 #include <stdexcept>
 #include <fstream>
 
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
+#include "abg-viz-svg.h"
+
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-viz-dot.cc b/src/abg-viz-dot.cc
index ec86710e..03be99f3 100644
--- a/src/abg-viz-dot.cc
+++ b/src/abg-viz-dot.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // -*- mode: C++ -*-
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
 //
 // This file is part of the GNU Application Binary Interface Generic
 // Analysis and Instrumentation Library (libabigail).  This library is
@@ -18,10 +18,19 @@
 // License along with this program; see the file COPYING-LGPLV3.  If
 // not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-#include "abg-viz-dot.h"
+
 #include <stdexcept>
 #include <fstream>
 
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
+#include "abg-viz-dot.h"
+
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-viz-svg.cc b/src/abg-viz-svg.cc
index 79a009db..8cdca6d5 100644
--- a/src/abg-viz-svg.cc
+++ b/src/abg-viz-svg.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // -*- mode: C++ -*-
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
 //
 // This file is part of the GNU Application Binary Interface Generic
 // Analysis and Instrumentation Library (libabigail).  This library is
@@ -18,10 +18,18 @@
 // License along with this program; see the file COPYING-LGPLV3.  If
 // not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-#include "abg-viz-svg.h"
 #include <stdexcept>
 #include <fstream>
 
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
+#include "abg-viz-svg.h"
+
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-workers.cc b/src/abg-workers.cc
index 0bc32357..49a8ea62 100644
--- a/src/abg-workers.cc
+++ b/src/abg-workers.cc
@@ -32,7 +32,16 @@
 #include <queue>
 #include <vector>
 #include <iostream>
+
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-workers.h"
+
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 
diff --git a/src/abg-writer.cc b/src/abg-writer.cc
index ab6141dd..834938a7 100644
--- a/src/abg-writer.cc
+++ b/src/abg-writer.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // -*- mode: C++ -*-
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
 //
 // This file is part of the GNU Application Binary Interface Generic
 // Analysis and Instrumentation Library (libabigail).  This library is
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@
 #include <stack>
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <tr1/unordered_map>
+
+#include "abg-internal.h"
+// <headers defining libabigail's API go under here>
+ABG_BEGIN_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+
 #include "abg-config.h"
 #include "abg-corpus.h"
 #include "abg-diff-utils.h"
@@ -46,6 +51,9 @@
 #include "abg-writer.h"
 #include "abg-libxml-utils.h"
 
+ABG_END_EXPORT_DECLARATIONS
+// </headers defining libabigail's API>
+
 namespace abigail
 {
 using std::cerr;
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.am b/tests/Makefile.am
index becadaa2..33732fa3 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -8,10 +8,12 @@ ZIP_ARCHIVE_TESTS += runtestdot
 endif
 endif
 
+AM_CXXFLAGS = $(VISIBILITY_FLAGS)
+
 CXX11_TESTS =
 if ENABLE_CXX11
 CXX11_TESTS += runtestsvg
-AM_CXXFLAGS = "-std=gnu++11"
+AM_CXXFLAGS += "-std=gnu++11"
 endif
 
 FEDABIPKGDIFF_TEST =
diff --git a/tools/Makefile.am b/tools/Makefile.am
index 3e53eb11..de35ad47 100644
--- a/tools/Makefile.am
+++ b/tools/Makefile.am
@@ -49,4 +49,6 @@ abipkgdiffdir = $(bindir)
 abipkgdiff_LDADD = $(abs_top_builddir)/src/libabigail.la
 abipkgdiff_LDFLAGS = -pthread
 
-AM_CPPFLAGS=-I$(abs_top_srcdir)/include -I$(abs_top_srcdir)/tools -fPIC
+AM_CXXFLAGS = \
+$(VISIBILITY_FLAGS) -I$(abs_top_srcdir)/include \
+-I$(abs_top_srcdir)/tools -fPIC