pangoxft not linked by gtk+-2.8

[Joe <damndirtyape gakido ca>]

I am trying to compile gtk+-2.8.7 and it won't link against pangoxft. There are no checks for pangoxft in the configure script, I presume this is intentional. Is there some magic to get gtk >= 2.8 with xft support?
gtk+-2.6.7 compiles with xft support (ie links libpangoxft.so) on the same system.

I've installed the 2.8.7 prerequisites, and pango did link against Xft:
$ pkg-config --modversion glib-2.0 pango pangoxft atk
2.8.4
1.10.1
1.10.1
1.10.1

I've googled and searched the gtk mailling list, I can't find any reference to Xft support being dropped, hidden or changed in gtk+ >= 2.8
What obvious thing am I missing here?

P.S. I am not on the list, please CC me on replies.