diff --git a/src/lay/lay/layApplication.cc b/src/lay/lay/layApplication.cc
index 184baa8f7..558e3cf43 100644
--- a/src/lay/lay/layApplication.cc
+++ b/src/lay/lay/layApplication.cc
@@ -776,7 +776,10 @@ ApplicationBase::init_app ()
   //  establish the configuration
   dispatcher ()->config_setup ();
 
-  //  Some info output 
+  //  deferred method processing for those plugins which need this
+  process_events ();
+
+  //  some info output
   if (tl::verbosity () >= 20) {
 
     tl::info << "KLayout path:";
@@ -1504,6 +1507,9 @@ GuiApplication::process_events_impl (QEventLoop::ProcessEventsFlags flags, bool
     mp_mw->enter_busy_mode (true);
     try {
       QApplication::processEvents (flags);
+      //  Qt seems not to send posted UserEvents in some cases (e.g. in the unit test application with GLib?
+      //  Glib not doing this without a main window visible?). Hence we do this explicitly here.
+      QApplication::sendPostedEvents ();
     } catch (...) {
       //  ignore exceptions
     }
diff --git a/src/tl/tl/tlDeferredExecutionQt.cc b/src/tl/tl/tlDeferredExecutionQt.cc
index 1f67632a9..6e1c125a5 100644
--- a/src/tl/tl/tlDeferredExecutionQt.cc
+++ b/src/tl/tl/tlDeferredExecutionQt.cc
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ namespace tl
 DeferredMethodSchedulerQt::DeferredMethodSchedulerQt ()
   : QObject (qApp), DeferredMethodScheduler ()
 {
+  m_event_type = QEvent::registerEventType ();
+
   connect (&m_timer, SIGNAL (timeout ()), this, SLOT (timer ()));
 
   m_timer.setInterval (0); // immediately
@@ -51,13 +53,13 @@ DeferredMethodSchedulerQt::~DeferredMethodSchedulerQt ()
 void 
 DeferredMethodSchedulerQt::queue_event ()
 {
-  qApp->postEvent (this, new QEvent (QEvent::User));
+  qApp->postEvent (this, new QEvent (QEvent::Type (m_event_type)));
 }
 
 bool
 DeferredMethodSchedulerQt::event (QEvent *event)
 {
-  if (event->type () == QEvent::User) {
+  if (event->type () == m_event_type) {
     timer ();
     return true;
   } else {
diff --git a/src/tl/tl/tlDeferredExecutionQt.h b/src/tl/tl/tlDeferredExecutionQt.h
index f9afba7f6..06f0e2e48 100644
--- a/src/tl/tl/tlDeferredExecutionQt.h
+++ b/src/tl/tl/tlDeferredExecutionQt.h
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ private slots:
 
 private:
   QTimer m_timer, m_fallback_timer;
+  int m_event_type;
 
   virtual bool event (QEvent *event);
 };
diff --git a/testdata/ruby/imgObject.rb b/testdata/ruby/imgObject.rb
index 7c1af0ae8..2a8f9a853 100644
--- a/testdata/ruby/imgObject.rb
+++ b/testdata/ruby/imgObject.rb
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ class IMG_TestClass < TestBase
 
   end
 
-  def test_4
+  def test_5
 
     tmp = File::join($ut_testtmp, "tmp.lyimg")