diff --git a/src/native/common/common_tools.cpp b/src/native/common/common_tools.cpp
index fbe61362..015e9ecc 100644
--- a/src/native/common/common_tools.cpp
+++ b/src/native/common/common_tools.cpp
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 
 static bool debug = false;
 static const char* VERSION = "0.9pre";
+JavaVM *jvm;
 
 jstring getVersionString(JNIEnv *env) {
 	return env->NewStringUTF(VERSION);
@@ -207,3 +208,10 @@ bool getBooleanProperty(JNIEnv *env, const char* propertyName) {
   jmethodID getBoolean = env->GetStaticMethodID(booleanClass, "getBoolean", "(Ljava/lang/String;)Z");
   return env->CallStaticBooleanMethod(booleanClass, getBoolean, property)? true : false;
 }
+
+JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL JNI_OnLoad(JavaVM *vm, void *reserved) {
+  jvm = vm;
+  return JNI_VERSION_1_4;
+}
+JNIEXPORT void JNICALL JNI_OnUnload(JavaVM *vm, void *reserved) {
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/native/common/common_tools.h b/src/native/common/common_tools.h
index 836c5376..c80a212f 100644
--- a/src/native/common/common_tools.h
+++ b/src/native/common/common_tools.h
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@
 #include <jni.h>
 #include "org_lwjgl_Sys.h"
 
+// shared VM instance
+extern JavaVM *jvm;
+
 // Must be x * max_event_size + 1
 #define EVENT_BUFFER_SIZE (25 * 4 + 1)