diff --git a/src/core/display-private.h b/src/core/display-private.h
index 99984e14a..c4abbfa86 100644
--- a/src/core/display-private.h
+++ b/src/core/display-private.h
@@ -93,7 +93,6 @@ struct _MetaDisplay
   
   char *name;
   Display *xdisplay;
-  char *hostname;
 
   Window leader_window;
   Window timestamp_pinging_window;
diff --git a/src/core/display.c b/src/core/display.c
index 2e522a9e9..b1e654338 100644
--- a/src/core/display.c
+++ b/src/core/display.c
@@ -466,7 +466,6 @@ meta_display_open (void)
   GSList *tmp;
   int i;
   guint32 timestamp;
-  char buf[257];
 
   /* A list of all atom names, so that we can intern them in one go. */
   char *atom_names[] = {
@@ -501,13 +500,6 @@ meta_display_open (void)
    */
   the_display->name = g_strdup (XDisplayName (NULL));
   the_display->xdisplay = xdisplay;
-  if (gethostname (buf, sizeof(buf)-1) == 0)
-    {
-      buf[sizeof(buf)-1] = '\0';
-      the_display->hostname = g_strdup (buf);
-    }
-  else
-    the_display->hostname = NULL;
   the_display->error_trap_synced_at_last_pop = TRUE;
   the_display->error_traps = 0;
   the_display->error_trap_handler = NULL;
@@ -1116,7 +1108,6 @@ meta_display_close (MetaDisplay *display,
   meta_display_free_window_prop_hooks (display);
   meta_display_free_group_prop_hooks (display);
   
-  g_free (display->hostname);
   g_free (display->name);
 
   meta_display_shutdown_keys (display);
diff --git a/src/core/window-private.h b/src/core/window-private.h
index 04ee11046..311af1963 100644
--- a/src/core/window-private.h
+++ b/src/core/window-private.h
@@ -346,6 +346,9 @@ struct _MetaWindow
   /* if TRUE, we are freezing updates during a resize */
   guint updates_frozen_for_resize : 1;
 
+  /* whether or not the window is from a program running on another machine */
+  guint is_remote : 1;
+
   /* if non-NULL, the bounds of the window frame */
   cairo_region_t *frame_bounds;
 
diff --git a/src/core/window-props.c b/src/core/window-props.c
index 7f44d174b..b4225631f 100644
--- a/src/core/window-props.c
+++ b/src/core/window-props.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
  */
 
 #define _GNU_SOURCE
+#define _SVID_SOURCE /* for gethostname() */
 
 #include <config.h>
 #include "window-props.h"
@@ -48,6 +49,11 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <string.h>
 
+#ifndef HOST_NAME_MAX
+/* Solaris headers apparently don't define this so do so manually; #326745 */
+#define HOST_NAME_MAX 255
+#endif
+
 typedef void (* ReloadValueFunc) (MetaWindow    *window,
                                   MetaPropValue *value,
                                   gboolean       initial);
@@ -195,6 +201,19 @@ reload_wm_client_machine (MetaWindow    *window,
 
   meta_verbose ("Window has client machine \"%s\"\n",
                 window->wm_client_machine ? window->wm_client_machine : "unset");
+
+  if (window->wm_client_machine == NULL)
+    {
+      window->is_remote = FALSE;
+    }
+  else
+    {
+      char hostname[HOST_NAME_MAX + 1] = "";
+
+      gethostname (hostname, HOST_NAME_MAX + 1);
+
+      window->is_remote = g_strcmp0 (window->wm_client_machine, hostname) != 0;
+    }
 }
 
 static void
diff --git a/src/core/window.c b/src/core/window.c
index 19d1988f7..210cf22a5 100644
--- a/src/core/window.c
+++ b/src/core/window.c
@@ -1161,6 +1161,7 @@ meta_window_new_with_attrs (MetaDisplay       *display,
   window->role = NULL;
   window->sm_client_id = NULL;
   window->wm_client_machine = NULL;
+  window->is_remote = FALSE;
   window->startup_id = NULL;
 
   window->net_wm_pid = -1;
@@ -10895,11 +10896,7 @@ meta_window_get_client_machine (MetaWindow *window)
 gboolean
 meta_window_is_remote (MetaWindow *window)
 {
-  g_return_val_if_fail (META_IS_WINDOW (window), FALSE);
-
-  if (window->wm_client_machine != NULL)
-    return g_strcmp0 (window->wm_client_machine, window->display->hostname) != 0;
-  return FALSE;
+  return window->is_remote;
 }
 
 /**