diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 5f369afe11..625af14191 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+Thu Nov  8 14:13:53 2012  Nobuyoshi Nakada  <nobu@ruby-lang.org>
+
+	* configure.in (visibility_option): visibility attribute is not
+	  available before GCC 4, so do not use -fvisibility option in that
+	  case.  [ruby-core:48147] [Bug #7205]
+
 Thu Nov  8 14:11:49 2012  Nobuyoshi Nakada  <nobu@ruby-lang.org>
 
 	* vm.c (rb_vm_jump_tag_but_local_jump): pass through thrown objects.
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 9a724ab0a1..b006a01a81 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -496,7 +496,15 @@ if test "$GCC" = ""; then
     AS_CASE(["$target_os"],[aix*],[warnflags="-qinfo=por"])
 fi
 if test "$GCC" = yes; then
-    RUBY_TRY_CFLAGS(-fvisibility=hidden, [RUBY_APPEND_OPTION(XCFLAGS, -fvisibility=hidden)])
+    AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([
+	@%:@if !(defined __GNUC__ && __GNUC__ >= 4)
+	@%:@error not GCC 4 or later
+	>>>not GCC 4 or later<<<
+	@%:@endif])],
+	[visibility_option=yes], [visibility_option=no])
+    if test "$visibility_option" = yes; then
+	RUBY_TRY_CFLAGS(-fvisibility=hidden, [visibility_option=yes], [visibility_option=no])
+    fi
     AC_SUBST(WERRORFLAG, "-Werror")
     if test "$visibility_option" = yes; then
 	RUBY_APPEND_OPTION(XCFLAGS, -fvisibility=hidden)
diff --git a/version.h b/version.h
index bb8a2eb95c..da845ea467 100644
--- a/version.h
+++ b/version.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #define RUBY_VERSION "1.9.3"
-#define RUBY_PATCHLEVEL 308
+#define RUBY_PATCHLEVEL 309
 
 #define RUBY_RELEASE_DATE "2012-11-08"
 #define RUBY_RELEASE_YEAR 2012