--- old/src/hotspot/share/runtime/arguments.cpp	2017-10-11 15:25:34.586287318 +0200
+++ new/src/hotspot/share/runtime/arguments.cpp	2017-10-11 15:25:34.344276927 +0200
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
 #include "runtime/globals_extension.hpp"
 #include "runtime/java.hpp"
 #include "runtime/os.hpp"
+#include "runtime/safepointMechanism.hpp"
 #include "runtime/vm_version.hpp"
 #include "services/management.hpp"
 #include "services/memTracker.hpp"
@@ -4613,6 +4614,19 @@
   }
 #endif
 
+  bool aot_enabled = UseAOT && ((AOTLibrary != NULL) || !FLAG_IS_DEFAULT(UseAOT));
+  bool jvmci_enabled = NOT_JVMCI(false) JVMCI_ONLY(EnableJVMCI || UseJVMCICompiler);
+  bool handshakes_supported = SafepointMechanism::supports_thread_local_poll() && !aot_enabled && !jvmci_enabled;
+  if (handshakes_supported) {
+    if (FLAG_IS_DEFAULT(UseAOT)) {
+      FLAG_SET_DEFAULT(UseAOT, false); // Clear the AOT flag to make sure it doesn't try to initialize.
+    }
+    if (FLAG_IS_DEFAULT(ThreadLocalHandshakes) && !ThreadLocalHandshakes) {
+      FLAG_SET_ERGO(bool, ThreadLocalHandshakes, true);
+      log_info(ergo)("Enabling ThreadLocalHandshakes on supported platform");
+    }
+  }
+
   return JNI_OK;
 }