diff --git a/generate/templates/manual/include/init_ssh2.h b/generate/templates/manual/include/init_ssh2.h
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#ifndef INIT_SSH2
+#define INIT_SSH2
+
+void init_ssh2();
+
+#endif
diff --git a/generate/templates/manual/src/init_ssh2.cc b/generate/templates/manual/src/init_ssh2.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+// We are initializing libssh2 from a separate .cc file to avoid ssize_t
+// redefinition conflicts caused by incliding both node.h and libssh2.h from
+// the same file (e.g. nodegit.cc)
+//
+// The redefinition can also be avoided by #defines but that is risky in case
+// the libraries depend on the different definitions.
+
+#include <libssh2.h>
+
+void init_ssh2() {
+  libssh2_init(0);
+}
diff --git a/generate/templates/templates/binding.gyp b/generate/templates/templates/binding.gyp
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
       "sources": [
         "src/lock_master.cc",
         "src/nodegit.cc",
+        "src/init_ssh2.cc",
         "src/promise_completion.cc",
         "src/wrapper.cc",
         "src/functions/copy.cc",
@@ -32,6 +33,8 @@
 
       "include_dirs": [
         "vendor/libv8-convert",
+        "vendor/libssh2/include",
+        "vendor/openssl/openssl/include",
         "<!(node -e \"require('nan')\")"
       ],
 

diff --git a/generate/templates/templates/nodegit.cc b/generate/templates/templates/nodegit.cc
@@ -1,11 +1,15 @@
 // This is a generated file, modify: generate/templates/nodegit.cc.
 #include <v8.h>
+
 #include <node.h>
 #include <git2.h>
 #include <map>
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <set>
 
+#include <openssl/crypto.h>
+
+#include "../include/init_ssh2.h"
 #include "../include/lock_master.h"
 #include "../include/wrapper.h"
 #include "../include/promise_completion.h"
@@ -39,7 +43,35 @@ void LockMasterGetDiagnostics(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& info) {
   info.GetReturnValue().Set(result);
 }
 
+static uv_mutex_t *opensslMutexes;
+
+void OpenSSL_LockingCallback(int mode, int type, const char *, int) {
+  if (mode & CRYPTO_LOCK) {
+    uv_mutex_lock(&opensslMutexes[type]);
+  } else {
+    uv_mutex_unlock(&opensslMutexes[type]);
+  }
+}
+
+unsigned long OpenSSL_IDCallback() {
+  return (unsigned long)uv_thread_self();
+}
+
+void OpenSSL_ThreadSetup() {
+  opensslMutexes=(uv_mutex_t *)malloc(CRYPTO_num_locks() * sizeof(uv_mutex_t));
+
+  for (int i=0; i<CRYPTO_num_locks(); i++) {
+    uv_mutex_init(&opensslMutexes[i]);
+  }
+
+  CRYPTO_set_locking_callback(OpenSSL_LockingCallback);
+  CRYPTO_set_id_callback(OpenSSL_IDCallback);
+}
+
 extern "C" void init(Local<v8::Object> target) {
+  // Initialize thread safety in openssl and libssh2
+  OpenSSL_ThreadSetup();
+  init_ssh2();
   // Initialize libgit2.
   git_libgit2_init();
 

diff --git a/lifecycleScripts/configureLibssh2.js b/lifecycleScripts/configureLibssh2.js
@@ -9,9 +9,19 @@ module.exports = function retrieveExternalDependencies() {
 
   return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
     console.info("[nodegit] Configuring libssh2.");
-    cp.execFile(
-      rooted("vendor/libssh2/") + "configure",
-      {cwd: rooted("vendor/libssh2/")},
+    var opensslDir = rooted("vendor/openssl/openssl");
+    var newEnv = {};
+    Object.keys(process.env).forEach(function(key) {
+      newEnv[key] = process.env[key];
+    });
+    newEnv.CPPFLAGS = newEnv.CPPFLAGS || "";
+    newEnv.CPPFLAGS += " -I" + path.join(opensslDir, "include");
+    newEnv.CPPFLAGS = newEnv.CPPFLAGS.trim();
+
+    cp.exec(
+      rooted("vendor/libssh2/configure") +
+        " --with-libssl-prefix=" + opensslDir,
+      {cwd: rooted("vendor/libssh2/"), env: newEnv},
       function(err, stdout, stderr) {
         if (err) {
           console.error(err);

diff --git a/lifecycleScripts/install.js b/lifecycleScripts/install.js
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 var promisify = require("promisify-node");
 var path = require("path");
 var fs = require("fs");
-
+var cp = require("child_process");
 var prepareForBuild = require("./prepareForBuild");
 
 var exec = promisify(function(command, opts, callback) {
-  return require("child_process").exec(command, opts, callback);
+  return cp.exec(command, opts, callback);
 });
 
 var fromRegistry;
@@ -52,7 +52,9 @@ function installPrebuilt() {
 
 function pathForTool(name) {
   var toolPath = path.resolve(".", "node_modules", ".bin", name);
-  toolPath = "\"" + toolPath + "\"";
+  if (process.platform == "win32") {
+    toolPath += ".cmd";
+  }
   return toolPath;
 }
 
@@ -72,7 +74,8 @@ function build() {
   var opts = {
     cwd: ".",
     maxBuffer: Number.MAX_VALUE,
-    env: process.env
+    env: process.env,
+    stdio: "inherit"
   };
 
   var builder = "node-gyp";
@@ -104,26 +107,27 @@ function build() {
 
   opts.env.HOME = path.join(home, ".nodegit-gyp");
 
-  var cmd = [
-    pathForTool(builder),
+  var cmd = pathForTool(builder);
+  var args = [
     "rebuild",
     debug,
     target,
     distUrl
   ]
   .join(" ")
-  .trim();
-
-  return exec(cmd, opts)
-    .then(function() {
-        console.info("[nodegit] Compilation complete.");
-        console.info("[nodegit] Completed installation successfully.");
-        process.exitCode = 0;
-      },
-      function(err, stderr) {
-        console.error(err);
-        console.error(stderr);
+  .trim()
+  .split(" ");
+  return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
+    var child = cp.spawn(cmd, args, opts);
+    child.on("close", function(code) {
+      console.log(code);
+      if (code) {
+        reject(code);
         process.exitCode = 13;
       }
-    );
+      else {
+        resolve();
+      }
+    });
+  });
 }