diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 47f051b..9fc9633 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -98,8 +98,12 @@ if build_wayland
     dependency('wayland-cursor'),
     dependency('wayland-egl'),
     dependency('egl'),
-    cc.find_library('rt'),
   ]
+  if host_machine.system() != 'linux'
+    # Linux has <sys/timerfd.h> natively; elsewhere (e.g. macOS/BSD) it's
+    # provided by epoll-shim, which also exposes struct itimerspec there.
+    deps_for_wayland += dependency('epoll-shim')
+  endif
 
   wl_protos = dependency('wayland-protocols')
   wl_scanner = find_program('wayland-scanner', native: true)
diff --git a/src/wl_window.c b/src/wl_window.c
index 8576500..0f20e2f 100644
--- a/src/wl_window.c
+++ b/src/wl_window.c
@@ -8,10 +8,11 @@
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <limits.h>
 #include <poll.h>
-#include <signal.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <sys/mman.h>
+#include <sys/timerfd.h>
 #include <time.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 
 #include <wayland-client.h>
 #include <wayland-cursor.h>
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ struct imv_window {
   int display_fd;
   int pipe_fds[2];
 
-  timer_t timer_id;
+  int timer_fd;
   int repeat_scancode; /* scancode of key to repeat */
   int repeat_delay; /* time before repeat in ms */
   int repeat_interval; /* time between repeats in ms */
@@ -253,7 +254,7 @@ static void keyboard_key(void *data, struct wl_keyboard *keyboard,
         .tv_nsec = 0,
       },
     };
-    timer_settime(window->timer_id, 0, &off, NULL);
+    timerfd_settime(window->timer_fd, 0, &off, NULL);
     return;
   }
 
@@ -274,7 +275,7 @@ static void keyboard_key(void *data, struct wl_keyboard *keyboard,
         .tv_nsec = window->repeat_interval * 1000 * 1000,
       },
     };
-    timer_settime(window->timer_id, 0, &period, NULL);
+    timerfd_settime(window->timer_fd, 0, &period, NULL);
   }
 }
 
@@ -978,9 +979,10 @@ static void shutdown_wayland(struct imv_window *window)
   }
 }
 
-static void on_timer(union sigval sigval)
+static void handle_repeat_timer(struct imv_window *window)
 {
-  struct imv_window *window = sigval.sival_ptr;
+  uint64_t expirations;
+  read(window->timer_fd, &expirations, sizeof expirations);
   push_keypress(window, window->repeat_scancode);
 }
 
@@ -1010,19 +1012,14 @@ struct imv_window *imv_window_create(int width, int height, const char *title,
   create_window(window, width, height, title, app_id);
   load_gl_functions();
 
-  struct sigevent timer_handler = {
-    .sigev_notify = SIGEV_THREAD,
-    .sigev_value.sival_ptr = window,
-    .sigev_notify_function = on_timer,
-  };
-  int timer_rc = timer_create(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &timer_handler, &window->timer_id);
-  assert(timer_rc == 0);
+  window->timer_fd = timerfd_create(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, TFD_NONBLOCK);
+  assert(window->timer_fd != -1);
   return window;
 }
 
 void imv_window_free(struct imv_window *window)
 {
-  timer_delete(window->timer_id);
+  close(window->timer_fd);
   imv_keyboard_free(window->keyboard);
   shutdown_wayland(window);
   list_deep_free(window->wl_outputs);
@@ -1109,7 +1106,8 @@ void imv_window_wait_for_event(struct imv_window *window, double timeout)
 {
   struct pollfd fds[] = {
     {.fd = window->display_fd,  .events = POLLIN},
-    {.fd = window->pipe_fds[0], .events = POLLIN}
+    {.fd = window->pipe_fds[0], .events = POLLIN},
+    {.fd = window->timer_fd,    .events = POLLIN},
   };
   nfds_t nfds = sizeof fds / sizeof *fds;
 
@@ -1133,6 +1131,10 @@ void imv_window_wait_for_event(struct imv_window *window, double timeout)
   } else {
     wl_display_cancel_read(window->wl_display);
   }
+
+  if (fds[2].revents & POLLIN) {
+    handle_repeat_timer(window);
+  }
 }
 
 void imv_window_push_event(struct imv_window *window, struct imv_event *e)