diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index a7c7fcade2c..be95d327aed 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -79,9 +79,10 @@ def add_option( name, help, nargs, contributesToVariantDir,
                help=help )
 
     options[name] = { "help" : help ,
-                      "nargs" : nargs , 
+                      "nargs" : nargs ,
                       "contributesToVariantDir" : contributesToVariantDir ,
-                      "dest" : dest } 
+                      "dest" : dest,
+                      "default": default }
 
 def get_option( name ):
     return GetOption( name )
@@ -121,6 +122,8 @@ def get_variant_dir():
             continue
         if not o["contributesToVariantDir"]:
             continue
+        if get_option(o["dest"]) == o["default"]:
+            continue
         
         if o["nargs"] == 0:
             a.append( name )
@@ -199,7 +202,8 @@ add_option( "clang" , "use clang++ rather than g++ (experimental)" , 0 , True )
 
 # debugging/profiling help
 
-add_option( "tcmalloc" , "link against tcmalloc" , 0 , False )
+add_option( "allocator" , "allocator to use (tcmalloc or system)" , 1 , True,
+            default=(sys.platform.startswith('linux') and 'tcmalloc' or 'system') )
 add_option( "gdbserver" , "build in gdb server support" , 0 , True )
 add_option( "heapcheck", "link to heap-checking malloc-lib and look for memory leaks during tests" , 0 , False )
 add_option( "gcov" , "compile with flags for gcov" , 0 , True )
@@ -207,6 +211,8 @@ add_option( "gcov" , "compile with flags for gcov" , 0 , True )
 add_option("smokedbprefix", "prefix to dbpath et al. for smoke tests", 1 , False )
 add_option("smokeauth", "run smoke tests with --auth", 0 , False )
 
+add_option( "use-system-tcmalloc", "use system version of tcmalloc library", 0, True )
+
 add_option( "use-system-pcre", "use system version of pcre library", 0, True )
 
 add_option( "use-system-boost", "use system version of boost libraries", 0, True )
@@ -298,8 +304,8 @@ env = Environment( BUILD_DIR=variantDir,
                    PYSYSPLATFORM=os.sys.platform,
 
                    PCRE_VERSION='8.30',
-                   CONFIGUREDIR = scons_data_dir + '/sconf_temp',
-                   CONFIGURELOG = scons_data_dir + '/config.log'
+                   CONFIGUREDIR = '#' + scons_data_dir + '/sconf_temp',
+                   CONFIGURELOG = '#' + scons_data_dir + '/config.log'
                    )
 
 env['_LIBDEPS'] = '$_LIBDEPS_OBJS'
@@ -826,9 +832,19 @@ def doConfigure(myenv):
 
     # 'tcmalloc' needs to be the last library linked. Please, add new libraries before this 
     # point.
-    if has_option("tcmalloc") or has_option("heapcheck"):
-        if not conf.CheckLib("tcmalloc"):
+    if get_option('allocator') == 'tcmalloc':
+        if use_system_version_of_library('tcmalloc'):
+            if not conf.CheckLib("tcmalloc"):
+                Exit(1)
+        elif has_option("heapcheck"):
+            print ("--heapcheck does not work with the tcmalloc embedded in the mongodb source "
+                   "tree.  Use --use-system-tcmalloc.")
             Exit(1)
+    elif get_option('allocator') == 'system':
+        pass
+    else:
+        print "Invalid --allocator parameter: \"%s\"" % get_option('allocator')
+        Exit(1)
 
     if has_option("heapcheck"):
         if ( not debugBuild ) and ( not debugLogging ):
diff --git a/src/mongo/SConscript b/src/mongo/SConscript
index 389a386aabe..181e89b3caf 100644
--- a/src/mongo/SConscript
+++ b/src/mongo/SConscript
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ env.StaticLibrary('foundation',
                     'util/time_support.cpp',
                     ],
                   LIBDEPS=['stacktrace',
+                           '$BUILD_DIR/third_party/shim_allocator',
                            '$BUILD_DIR/third_party/shim_boost'])
 
 env.StaticLibrary('stringutils', ['util/stringutils.cpp', 'util/base64.cpp',])
diff --git a/src/third_party/SConscript b/src/third_party/SConscript
index 0b4bfb8455d..5a535710222 100644
--- a/src/third_party/SConscript
+++ b/src/third_party/SConscript
@@ -42,3 +42,10 @@ else:
     env.Append(CPPPATH='$BUILD_DIR/third_party/js-1.7')
     env.SConscript('js-1.7/SConscript')
     env.StaticLibrary('shim_spidermonkey', ['shim_spidermonkey.cpp'], LIBDEPS=['js-1.7/js'])
+
+if (GetOption("allocator") != "tcmalloc") or use_system_version_of_library("tcmalloc"):
+    env.StaticLibrary("shim_allocator", "shim_allocator.cpp")
+else:
+    env.SConscript('gperftools-2.0/SConscript')
+    env.StaticLibrary('shim_allocator', 'shim_allocator.cpp',
+                      LIBDEPS=['gperftools-2.0/tcmalloc_minimal'])
diff --git a/src/third_party/gperftools-2.0/SConscript b/src/third_party/gperftools-2.0/SConscript
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c599bae2b5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/third_party/gperftools-2.0/SConscript
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# -*- mode: python -*-
+
+Import("env")
+
+files = [
+    'src/base/dynamic_annotations.c',
+    'src/base/spinlock_internal.cc',
+    'src/base/logging.cc',
+    'src/base/atomicops-internals-x86.cc',
+    'src/base/sysinfo.cc',
+    'src/base/spinlock.cc',
+    'src/tcmalloc.cc',
+    'src/malloc_hook.cc',
+    'src/span.cc',
+    'src/maybe_threads.cc',
+    'src/internal_logging.cc',
+    'src/symbolize.cc',
+    'src/system-alloc.cc',
+    'src/memfs_malloc.cc',
+    'src/central_freelist.cc',
+    'src/thread_cache.cc',
+    'src/page_heap.cc',
+    'src/common.cc',
+    'src/static_vars.cc',
+    'src/stack_trace_table.cc',
+    'src/malloc_extension.cc',
+    'src/sampler.cc',
+    'src/stacktrace.cc'
+    ]
+
+__malloc_hook_fragment = '''
+#include <malloc.h>
+void* (* volatile __malloc_hook)(size_t, const void*) = 0;
+'''
+
+def __checkMallocHookVolatile(check_context):
+    check_context.Message("Checking if __malloc_hook is declared volatile... ")
+    is_malloc_hook_volatile = check_context.TryCompile(__malloc_hook_fragment, '.cc')
+    check_context.Result(is_malloc_hook_volatile)
+    check_context.env.Append(CPPDEFINES=dict(
+            MALLOC_HOOK_MAYBE_VOLATILE=(is_malloc_hook_volatile and "volatile" or "")))
+
+conf = Configure(env.Clone(), custom_tests=dict(CheckMallocHookVolatile=__checkMallocHookVolatile))
+conf.CheckMallocHookVolatile()
+env = conf.Finish()
+
+
+env.Append( CPPDEFINES=["NO_TCMALLOC_SAMPLES","NO_TCMALLOC_SAMPLES","NO_HEAP_CHECK"] )
+env.Prepend( CPPPATH=["src/"] )
+
+def removeIfPresent(lst, item):
+    try:
+        lst.remove(item)
+    except ValueError:
+        pass
+
+for to_remove in ['-Werror', "-Wsign-compare","-Wall"]:
+    removeIfPresent(env['CCFLAGS'], to_remove)
+
+env.StaticLibrary('tcmalloc_minimal', files)
diff --git a/src/third_party/gperftools-2.0/src/config-10gen-linux.h b/src/third_party/gperftools-2.0/src/config-10gen-linux.h
index d893b32d07c..100f86adc36 100644
--- a/src/third_party/gperftools-2.0/src/config-10gen-linux.h
+++ b/src/third_party/gperftools-2.0/src/config-10gen-linux.h
@@ -190,9 +190,6 @@
    */
 #define LT_OBJDIR ".libs/"
 
-/* Define to 'volatile' if __malloc_hook is declared volatile */
-#define MALLOC_HOOK_MAYBE_VOLATILE volatile
-
 /* Define to 1 if your C compiler doesn't accept -c and -o together. */
 /* #undef NO_MINUS_C_MINUS_O */
 
diff --git a/src/third_party/shim_allocator.cpp b/src/third_party/shim_allocator.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..777ede8d4a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/third_party/shim_allocator.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+// This file intentionally blank.  shim_allocator.cpp is part of the third_party/shim_allocator
+// library, used to manage memory allocator selection (tcmalloc, libc, etc.).