diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -33,6 +33,20 @@
                  CAN_DISABLE_PTRACE
                  "Required for disallowing ptrace on greeter and kcheckpass process")
 
+check_include_file("sys/signalfd.h" HAVE_SIGNALFD_H)
+if (NOT HAVE_SIGNALFD_H)
+    check_include_file("sys/event.h" HAVE_EVENT_H)
+endif ()
+if (NOT (HAVE_SIGNALFD_H OR HAVE_EVENT_H))
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "kcheckpass either needs signalfd() or kevent()&sigtimedwait() to work")
+endif ()
+add_feature_info("sys/signalfd.h"
+                 HAVE_SIGNALFD_H
+                 "Use the signalfd() api for signalhandling")
+add_feature_info("sys/event.h"
+                 HAVE_EVENT_H
+                 "Use the kevent() and sigwaitinfo() api for signalhandling")
+
 find_package(KF5 ${KF5_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS
                     Crash
                     Declarative
diff --git a/config-kscreenlocker.h.cmake b/config-kscreenlocker.h.cmake
--- a/config-kscreenlocker.h.cmake
+++ b/config-kscreenlocker.h.cmake
@@ -13,3 +13,5 @@
 #cmakedefine01 HAVE_SYS_PROCCTL_H
 #cmakedefine01 HAVE_PROC_TRACE_CTL
 #cmakedefine01 HAVE_SECCOMP
+#cmakedefine01 HAVE_SIGNALFD_H
+#cmakedefine01 HAVE_EVENT_H
diff --git a/greeter/authenticator.cpp b/greeter/authenticator.cpp
--- a/greeter/authenticator.cpp
+++ b/greeter/authenticator.cpp
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <sys/wait.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
+#include <signal.h>
 
 Authenticator::Authenticator(AuthenticationMode mode, QObject *parent)
     : QObject(parent)
diff --git a/kcheckpass/kcheckpass.c b/kcheckpass/kcheckpass.c
--- a/kcheckpass/kcheckpass.c
+++ b/kcheckpass/kcheckpass.c
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <time.h>
-#include <sys/signalfd.h>
 #include <signal.h>
 
 #include <config-kscreenlocker.h>
@@ -67,6 +66,14 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <sys/procctl.h>
 #endif
+#if HAVE_SIGNALFD_H
+#include <sys/signalfd.h>
+#endif
+#if HAVE_EVENT_H
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/event.h>
+#include <sys/time.h>
+#endif
 
 #define THROTTLE 3
 
@@ -265,9 +272,18 @@
   uid_t		uid;
   AuthReturn	ret;
   sigset_t signalMask;
+#if HAVE_SIGNALFD_H
   int signalFd;
   struct signalfd_siginfo fdsi;
   ssize_t sigReadSize;
+#endif
+#if HAVE_EVENT_H
+  /* Event Queue */
+  int           keventQueue;
+  /* Listen for two events: SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2 */
+  struct kevent keventEvent[2];
+  int           keventData;
+#endif
   pid_t parentPid;
 
   parentPid = getppid();
@@ -346,15 +362,50 @@
         conv_server(ConvPutAuthError, 0);
         return 1;
     }
+#if HAVE_SIGNALFD_H
     signalFd = signalfd(-1, &signalMask, SFD_CLOEXEC);
     if (signalFd == -1) {
         message("Signal fd failed\n");
         conv_server(ConvPutAuthError, 0);
         return 1;
     }
+#endif
+#if HAVE_EVENT_H
+    /* Setup the kequeu */
+    keventQueue = kqueue();
+    if (keventQueue == -1) {
+        message("Failed to create kqueue for SIGUSR1\n");
+        conv_server(ConvPutAuthError, 0);
+        return 1;
+    }
+    /* Setup the events */
+    EV_SET(&keventEvent[0], SIGUSR1, EVFILT_SIGNAL, EV_ADD, 0, 0, NULL);
+    EV_SET(&keventEvent[1], SIGUSR2, EVFILT_SIGNAL, EV_ADD, 0, 0, NULL);
+    int setupResult = kevent(keventQueue, &keventEvent, 2, NULL, 0, NULL);
+    if (setupResult == -1) {
+        message("Failed to attach event to the kqueue\n");
+        conv_server(ConvPutAuthError, 0);
+        return 1;
+    }
+    if (keventEvent[0].flags & EV_ERROR) {
+        message("Error in kevent for SIGUSR1: %s\n", strerror(keventEvent[0].data));
+        conv_server(ConvPutAuthError, 0);
+        return 1;
+    }
+    if (keventEvent[1].flags & EV_ERROR) {
+        message("Error in kevent for SIGUSR2: %s\n", strerror(keventEvent[1].data));
+        conv_server(ConvPutAuthError, 0);
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    /* signal_info for sigwaitinfo() */
+    siginfo_t signalInfo;
+
+#endif
     // now lets block on the fd
     for (;;) {
         conv_server(ConvPutReadyForAuthentication, 0);
+#if HAVE_SIGNALFD_H
         sigReadSize = read(signalFd, &fdsi, sizeof(struct signalfd_siginfo));
         if (sigReadSize != sizeof(struct signalfd_siginfo)) {
             message("Read wrong size\n");
@@ -365,6 +416,44 @@
                 message("signal from wrong process\n");
                 continue;
             }
+#endif
+#if HAVE_EVENT_H
+        keventData = kevent(keventQueue, NULL, 0, keventEvent, 1, NULL);
+        if ( keventData == -1 ) {
+            /* Let's figure this out in the future, shall we */
+            message("kevent() failed with %d\n", errno);
+            return 1;
+        }
+        else if ( keventData == 0 ) {
+            /* Do we need to handle timeouts? */
+            message("kevent timeout\n");
+            continue;
+        }
+        // We know we got a SIGUSR1 or SIGUSR2, so fetch it via sigwaitinfo()
+        // (otherwise, we could have used sigtimedwait() )
+        int signalReturn = sigwaitinfo(&signalMask, &signalInfo);
+        if (signalReturn < 0) {
+            if (errno == EINTR) {
+                message("sigawaitinfo() interrupted by unblocked caught signal");
+                continue;
+            }
+            else if (errno == EAGAIN) {
+                /* This should not happen, as kevent notified us about such a signal */
+                message("no signal of type USR1 or USR2 pending.");
+                continue;
+            }
+            else {
+                message("Unhandled error in sigwaitinfo()");
+                conv_server(ConvPutAuthError, 0);
+                return 1;
+            }
+        }
+        if (signalReturn == SIGUSR1) {
+            if (signalInfo.si_pid != parentPid) {
+                message("signal from wrong process\n");
+                continue;
+            }
+#endif
             /* Now do the fandango */
             ret = Authenticate(method,
                                 username,
@@ -396,12 +485,22 @@
                 // we don't support multiple auth for setuid kcheckpass
                 break;
             }
+#if HAVE_SIGNALFD_H
         } else if (fdsi.ssi_signo == SIGUSR2) {
             if (fdsi.ssi_pid != parentPid) {
                 message("signal from wrong process\n");
                 continue;
             }
             break;
+#endif
+#if HAVE_EVENT_H
+        } else if (signalReturn == SIGUSR2 ) {
+            if (signalInfo.si_pid != parentPid) {
+                message("signal from wrong process\n");
+                continue;
+            }
+            break;
+#endif
         } else {
             message("unexpected signal\n");
         }