diff --git a/gobject/glib-mkenums.in b/gobject/glib-mkenums.in
index 632ba5d51a0de88051c84fc3bd30cff229ef01d9..e0c0b39aff124b18d52f7fc872d6bbe6e43dd879 100755
--- a/gobject/glib-mkenums.in
+++ b/gobject/glib-mkenums.in
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ enumname_prefix = ''        # prefix of $enumname
 enumindex = 0               # Global enum counter
 firstenum = 1               # Is this the first enumeration per file?
 entries = []                # [ name, val ] for each entry
-sandbox = None              # sandbox for safe evaluation of expressions
+c_namespace = {}            # C symbols namespace.
 
 output = ''                 # Filename to write result into
 
@@ -247,15 +247,12 @@ def parse_entries(file, file_name):
             if flags is None and value is not None and '<<' in value:
                 seenbitshift = 1
 
-            if seenprivate:
-                continue
-
             if options is not None:
                 options = parse_trigraph(options)
                 if 'skip' not in options:
-                    entries.append((name, value, options.get('nick')))
+                    entries.append((name, value, seenprivate, options.get('nick')))
             else:
-                entries.append((name, value))
+                entries.append((name, value, seenprivate))
         else:
             m = re.match(r'''\s*
                          /\*< (([^*]|\*(?!/))*) >\s*\*/
@@ -489,7 +486,7 @@ if len(fhead) > 0:
     write_output(prod)
 
 def process_file(curfilename):
-    global entries, flags, seenbitshift, seenprivate, enum_prefix
+    global entries, flags, seenbitshift, seenprivate, enum_prefix, c_namespace
     firstenum = True
 
     try:
@@ -580,7 +577,7 @@ def process_file(curfilename):
             # Autogenerate a prefix
             if enum_prefix is None:
                 for entry in entries:
-                    if len(entry) < 3 or entry[2] is None:
+                    if not entry[2] and (len(entry) < 4 or entry[3] is None):
                         name = entry[0]
                         if enum_prefix is not None:
                             enum_prefix = os.path.commonprefix([name, enum_prefix])
@@ -601,10 +598,11 @@ def process_file(curfilename):
             for e in entries:
                 name = e[0]
                 num = e[1]
-                if len(e) < 3 or e[2] is None:
+                private = e[2]
+                if len(e) < 4 or e[3] is None:
                     nick = re.sub(r'^' + enum_prefix, '', name)
                     nick = nick.replace('_', '-').lower()
-                    e = (name, num, nick)
+                    e = (name, num, private, nick)
                 fixed_entries.append(e)
             entries = fixed_entries
 
@@ -720,7 +718,7 @@ def process_file(curfilename):
                 next_num = 0
 
                 prod = replace_specials(prod)
-                for name, num, nick in entries:
+                for name, num, private, nick in entries:
                     tmp_prod = prod
 
                     if '\u0040valuenum\u0040' in prod:
@@ -729,7 +727,7 @@ def process_file(curfilename):
                         if num is not None:
                             # use sandboxed evaluation as a reasonable
                             # approximation to C constant folding
-                            inum = eval(num, {}, {})
+                            inum = eval(num, {}, c_namespace)
 
                             # make sure it parsed to an integer
                             if not isinstance(inum, int):
@@ -738,9 +736,13 @@ def process_file(curfilename):
                         else:
                             num = next_num
 
+                        c_namespace[name] = num
                         tmp_prod = tmp_prod.replace('\u0040valuenum\u0040', str(num))
                         next_num = int(num) + 1
 
+                    if private:
+                        continue
+
                     tmp_prod = tmp_prod.replace('\u0040VALUENAME\u0040', name)
                     tmp_prod = tmp_prod.replace('\u0040valuenick\u0040', nick)
                     if flags:
diff --git a/gobject/tests/mkenums.py b/gobject/tests/mkenums.py
index 09b770281104f745c378b5ecd574f9a91f1592c7..b58d23e799335cb6722756de96a705c14e739094 100644
--- a/gobject/tests/mkenums.py
+++ b/gobject/tests/mkenums.py
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ comment: {standard_bottom_comment}
             "ENUM",
             "ENUM_VALUE_PUBLIC2",
             "public2",
-            "0",
+            "1",
         )
 
     def test_available_in(self):
@@ -730,6 +730,35 @@ comment: {standard_bottom_comment}
             "4",
         )
 
+    def test_enum_symbolic_expression(self):
+        """Test use of symbol in value expression."""
+        h_contents = """
+        typedef enum {
+          /*< private >*/
+          ENUM_VALUE_PRIVATE = 5,
+          /*< public >*/
+          ENUM_VALUE_PUBLIC = ENUM_VALUE_PRIVATE + 2,
+        } TestSymbolicEnum;
+        """
+
+        result = self.runMkenumsWithHeader(h_contents)
+        self.assertEqual("", result.err)
+        self.assertSingleEnum(
+            result,
+            "TestSymbolicEnum",
+            "test_symbolic_enum",
+            "TEST_SYMBOLIC_ENUM",
+            "SYMBOLIC_ENUM",
+            "TEST",
+            "",
+            "enum",
+            "Enum",
+            "ENUM",
+            "ENUM_VALUE_PUBLIC",
+            "public",
+            "7",
+        )
+
 
 class TestRspMkenums(TestMkenums):
     """Run all tests again in @rspfile mode"""