diff --git a/compat/mingw.c b/compat/mingw.c
index bed417875e..f570d115c9 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -886,16 +886,25 @@ char **env_setenv(char **env, const char *name)
 	return env;
 }
 
-/* this is the first function to call into WS_32; initialize it */
-#undef gethostbyname
-struct hostent *mingw_gethostbyname(const char *host)
+static void ensure_socket_initialization(void)
 {
 	WSADATA wsa;
+	static int initialized = 0;
+
+	if (initialized)
+		return;
 
 	if (WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2,2), &wsa))
 		die("unable to initialize winsock subsystem, error %d",
 			WSAGetLastError());
 	atexit((void(*)(void)) WSACleanup);
+	initialized = 1;
+}
+
+#undef gethostbyname
+struct hostent *mingw_gethostbyname(const char *host)
+{
+	ensure_socket_initialization();
 	return gethostbyname(host);
 }