diff --git a/src/backend/utils/adt/tsginidx.c b/src/backend/utils/adt/tsginidx.c
index de59e6417eb..00e32b2570e 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/adt/tsginidx.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/adt/tsginidx.c
@@ -309,7 +309,9 @@ gin_tsquery_consistent(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
 		 * query.
 		 */
 		gcv.first_item = GETQUERY(query);
-		gcv.check = check;
+		StaticAssertStmt(sizeof(GinTernaryValue) == sizeof(bool),
+						 "sizes of GinTernaryValue and bool are not equal");
+		gcv.check = (GinTernaryValue *) check;
 		gcv.map_item_operand = (int *) (extra_data[0]);
 		gcv.need_recheck = recheck;
 
diff --git a/src/include/access/gin.h b/src/include/access/gin.h
index 0acdb88241e..3d8a130b69b 100644
--- a/src/include/access/gin.h
+++ b/src/include/access/gin.h
@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@ typedef struct GinStatsData
 /*
  * A ternary value used by tri-consistent functions.
  *
- * For convenience, this is compatible with booleans. A boolean can be
- * safely cast to a GinTernaryValue.
+ * This must be of the same size as a bool because some code will cast a
+ * pointer to a bool to a pointer to a GinTernaryValue.
  */
 typedef char GinTernaryValue;
 
diff --git a/src/include/c.h b/src/include/c.h
index 37c0c391990..107f4f6bcd7 100644
--- a/src/include/c.h
+++ b/src/include/c.h
@@ -255,12 +255,21 @@
  * bool
  *		Boolean value, either true or false.
  *
- * XXX for C++ compilers, we assume the compiler has a compatible
- * built-in definition of bool.
+ * Use stdbool.h if available and its bool has size 1.  That's useful for
+ * better compiler and debugger output and for compatibility with third-party
+ * libraries.  But PostgreSQL currently cannot deal with bool of other sizes;
+ * there are static assertions around the code to prevent that.
+ *
+ * For C++ compilers, we assume the compiler has a compatible built-in
+ * definition of bool.
  */
 
 #ifndef __cplusplus
 
+#if defined(HAVE_STDBOOL_H) && SIZEOF_BOOL == 1
+#include <stdbool.h>
+#else
+
 #ifndef bool
 typedef char bool;
 #endif
@@ -273,6 +282,7 @@ typedef char bool;
 #define false	((bool) 0)
 #endif
 
+#endif
 #endif							/* not C++ */
 
 
diff --git a/src/include/pg_config.h.win32 b/src/include/pg_config.h.win32
index e934cf87bd2..b0477f02311 100644
--- a/src/include/pg_config.h.win32
+++ b/src/include/pg_config.h.win32
@@ -356,6 +356,9 @@
 /* Define to 1 if you have the `SSL_get_current_compression' function. */
 #define HAVE_SSL_GET_CURRENT_COMPRESSION 1
 
+/* Define to 1 if stdbool.h conforms to C99. */
+/* #undef HAVE_STDBOOL_H */
+
 /* Define to 1 if you have the <stdint.h> header file. */
 /* #undef HAVE_STDINT_H */
 
@@ -524,6 +527,9 @@
 /* Define to 1 if you have the <winldap.h> header file. */
 /* #undef HAVE_WINLDAP_H */
 
+/* Define to 1 if the system has the type `_Bool'. */
+/* #undef HAVE__BOOL */
+
 /* Define to 1 if your compiler understands __builtin_bswap16. */
 /* #undef HAVE__BUILTIN_BSWAP16 */
 
@@ -606,6 +612,9 @@
 /* A string containing the version number, platform, and C compiler */
 #define PG_VERSION_STR "Uninitialized version string (win32)"
 
+/* The size of `bool', as computed by sizeof. */
+#define SIZEOF_BOOL 0
+
 /* The size of `long', as computed by sizeof. */
 #define SIZEOF_LONG 4
 
diff --git a/src/pl/plperl/plperl.h b/src/pl/plperl/plperl.h
index 6fe7803088e..a85aefea6c1 100644
--- a/src/pl/plperl/plperl.h
+++ b/src/pl/plperl/plperl.h
@@ -50,6 +50,11 @@
 #define __inline__ inline
 #endif
 
+/*
+ * Prevent perl from redefining "bool".
+ */
+#define HAS_BOOL 1
+
 
 /*
  * Get the basic Perl API.  We use PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT mode so that our code
@@ -91,11 +96,6 @@
 #define NEED_sv_2pv_flags
 #include "ppport.h"
 
-/* perl may have a different width of "bool", don't buy it */
-#ifdef bool
-#undef bool
-#endif
-
 /* supply HeUTF8 if it's missing - ppport.h doesn't supply it, unfortunately */
 #ifndef HeUTF8
 #define HeUTF8(he)			   ((HeKLEN(he) == HEf_SVKEY) ?			   \