diff --git a/BREAKING-CHANGES.txt b/BREAKING-CHANGES.txt
index 9cdbc6c910..f9517ae9c8 100644
--- a/BREAKING-CHANGES.txt
+++ b/BREAKING-CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,28 @@
 JUCE breaking changes
 =====================
 
+develop
+=======
+
+Change
+------
+XWindowSystemUtilities::XSettings now has a private constructor.
+
+Possible Issues
+---------------
+User code that uses XSettings::XSettings() will fail to build.
+
+Workaround
+----------
+Use the XSettings::createXSettings() factory function.
+
+Rationale
+---------
+The XSETTINGS facility is not available on all Linux distributions and the old
+constructor would fail on such systems, potentially crashing the application.
+The factory function will return nullptr in such situations instead.
+
+
 Version 6.1.3
 =============
 
diff --git a/modules/juce_gui_basics/native/x11/juce_linux_XWindowSystem.cpp b/modules/juce_gui_basics/native/x11/juce_linux_XWindowSystem.cpp
index 384005f9f5..3911d1d59b 100644
--- a/modules/juce_gui_basics/native/x11/juce_linux_XWindowSystem.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_gui_basics/native/x11/juce_linux_XWindowSystem.cpp
@@ -179,15 +179,21 @@ XWindowSystemUtilities::GetXProperty::~GetXProperty()
 }
 
 //==============================================================================
-XWindowSystemUtilities::XSettings::XSettings (::Display* d)
-    : display (d)
+std::unique_ptr<XWindowSystemUtilities::XSettings> XWindowSystemUtilities::XSettings::createXSettings (::Display* d)
 {
-    settingsAtom = Atoms::getCreating (display, "_XSETTINGS_SETTINGS");
+    const auto settingsAtom = Atoms::getCreating (d, "_XSETTINGS_SETTINGS");
+    const auto settingsWindow = X11Symbols::getInstance()->xGetSelectionOwner (d,
+                                                                               Atoms::getCreating (d, "_XSETTINGS_S0"));
 
-    settingsWindow = X11Symbols::getInstance()->xGetSelectionOwner (display,
-                                                                    Atoms::getCreating (display, "_XSETTINGS_S0"));
+    if (settingsWindow == None)
+        return {};
 
-    jassert (settingsWindow != None);
+    return rawToUniquePtr (new XWindowSystemUtilities::XSettings (d, settingsWindow, settingsAtom));
+}
+
+XWindowSystemUtilities::XSettings::XSettings (::Display* d, ::Window settingsWindowIn, Atom settingsAtomIn)
+    : display (d), settingsWindow (settingsWindowIn), settingsAtom (settingsAtomIn)
+{
     update();
 }
 
@@ -3030,11 +3036,12 @@ long XWindowSystem::getUserTime (::Window windowH) const
 
 void XWindowSystem::initialiseXSettings()
 {
-    xSettings = std::make_unique<XWindowSystemUtilities::XSettings> (display);
+    xSettings = XWindowSystemUtilities::XSettings::createXSettings (display);
 
-    X11Symbols::getInstance()->xSelectInput (display,
-                                             xSettings->getSettingsWindow(),
-                                             StructureNotifyMask | PropertyChangeMask);
+    if (xSettings != nullptr)
+        X11Symbols::getInstance()->xSelectInput (display,
+                                                 xSettings->getSettingsWindow(),
+                                                 StructureNotifyMask | PropertyChangeMask);
 }
 
 XWindowSystem::DisplayVisuals::DisplayVisuals (::Display* xDisplay)
diff --git a/modules/juce_gui_basics/native/x11/juce_linux_XWindowSystem.h b/modules/juce_gui_basics/native/x11/juce_linux_XWindowSystem.h
index 9bc284a407..9369f8244a 100644
--- a/modules/juce_gui_basics/native/x11/juce_linux_XWindowSystem.h
+++ b/modules/juce_gui_basics/native/x11/juce_linux_XWindowSystem.h
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ namespace XWindowSystemUtilities
     class XSettings
     {
     public:
-        explicit XSettings (::Display*);
+        static std::unique_ptr<XSettings> createXSettings (::Display*);
 
         //==============================================================================
         void update();
@@ -158,6 +158,8 @@ namespace XWindowSystemUtilities
         std::unordered_map<String, XSetting> settings;
         ListenerList<Listener> listeners;
 
+        XSettings (::Display*, Atom, ::Window);
+
         //==============================================================================
         JUCE_DECLARE_NON_COPYABLE_WITH_LEAK_DETECTOR (XSettings)
     };