glib main loop without gtk

[Thomas Stover <thomas wsinnovations com>]

So if one wants to use g_io_channels with out gtk (console / server 
app), what exactly is the idea? Does glib need an initialization 
function called first? I see the g_main_loop_new() and friends 
functions, and that part make sense. The thing is g_io_add_watch_full() 
type functions don't have a main loop parameter. In other words were 
does this "default" main loop come from?