diff --git a/common/msg.c b/common/msg.c
index 9b05e55660..4f9bd886a5 100644
--- a/common/msg.c
+++ b/common/msg.c
@@ -469,6 +469,10 @@ struct mp_log_buffer *mp_msg_log_buffer_new(struct mpv_global *global,
 {
     struct mp_log_root *root = global->log->root;
 
+#if !HAVE_ATOMICS
+    return NULL;
+#endif
+
     pthread_mutex_lock(&mp_msg_lock);
 
     struct mp_log_buffer *buffer = talloc_ptrtype(NULL, buffer);
diff --git a/compat/atomics.h b/compat/atomics.h
index 797992f876..e5fb717a78 100644
--- a/compat/atomics.h
+++ b/compat/atomics.h
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 #include <inttypes.h>
 #include "config.h"
 
+#define HAVE_ATOMICS 1
+
 #if HAVE_STDATOMIC
 #include <stdatomic.h>
 #else
@@ -58,8 +60,17 @@ typedef struct { volatile unsigned long long v; } atomic_ullong;
     __sync_fetch_and_add(&(a)->v, b)
 
 #else
-# error "this should have been a configuration error, report a bug please"
-#endif
+
+// This is extremely wrong. The build system actually disables code that has
+// a serious dependency on working atomics, so this is barely ok.
+#define atomic_load(p) ((p)->v)
+#define atomic_store(p, val) ((p)->v = (val))
+#define atomic_fetch_add(a, b) (((a)->v += (b)) - (b))
+
+#undef HAVE_ATOMICS
+#define HAVE_ATOMICS 0
+
+#endif /* no atomics */
 
 #endif /* else HAVE_STDATOMIC */
 
diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index b4550a88ec..bb55ba411e 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -138,12 +138,10 @@ main_dependencies = [
                     'test = __sync_add_and_fetch(&test, 1)'),
         'deps_neg': [ 'stdatomic', 'atomic-builtins' ],
     }, {
-        'name': 'thread-synchronization-builtins',
+        'name': 'atomics',
         'desc': 'compiler support for usable thread synchronization built-ins',
         'func': check_true,
         'deps_any': ['stdatomic', 'atomic-builtins', 'sync-builtins'],
-        'req': True,
-        'fmsg': 'your compiler must support either __atomic or __sync built-ins',
     }, {
         'name': 'librt',
         'desc': 'linking with -lrt',
@@ -419,11 +417,13 @@ audio_output_features = [
     {
         'name': '--sdl2',
         'desc': 'SDL2',
+        'deps': ['atomics'],
         'func': check_pkg_config('sdl2'),
         'default': 'disable'
     }, {
         'name': '--sdl1',
         'desc': 'SDL (1.x)',
+        'deps': ['atomics'],
         'deps_neg': [ 'sdl2' ],
         'func': check_pkg_config('sdl'),
         'default': 'disable'
@@ -478,12 +478,13 @@ audio_output_features = [
     }, {
         'name': '--portaudio',
         'desc': 'PortAudio audio output',
-        'deps': [ 'pthreads' ],
+        'deps': [ 'atomics' ],
         'func': check_pkg_config('portaudio-2.0', '>= 19'),
         'default': 'disable',
     }, {
         'name': '--jack',
         'desc': 'JACK audio output',
+        'deps': ['atomics'],
         'func': check_pkg_config('jack'),
     }, {
         'name': '--openal',
@@ -497,6 +498,7 @@ audio_output_features = [
     }, {
         'name': '--coreaudio',
         'desc': 'CoreAudio audio output',
+        'deps': ['atomics'],
         'func': check_cc(
             fragment=load_fragment('coreaudio.c'),
             framework_name=['CoreFoundation', 'CoreAudio', 'AudioUnit', 'AudioToolbox'])
@@ -507,6 +509,7 @@ audio_output_features = [
     }, {
         'name': '--wasapi',
         'desc': 'WASAPI audio output',
+        'deps': ['atomics'],
         'func': check_cc(fragment=load_fragment('wasapi.c'), lib='ole32'),
     }
 ]