diff --git a/hooks.c b/hooks.c
index f6aec9b16..54055c6dc 100644
--- a/hooks.c
+++ b/hooks.c
@@ -163,20 +163,6 @@ luaA_hooks_property(lua_State *L)
     HANDLE_HOOK(L, globalconf.hooks.property);
 }
 
-/** Set the function called on each startup-notification events
- * This function is called with a table and various fields set to describe the
- * vents.
- * \param L The Lua VM state.
- * \return The number of elements pushed on stack.
- * \luastack
- * \lparam A function to call on each startup-notification event.
- */
-static int
-luaA_hooks_startup_notification(lua_State *L)
-{
-    HANDLE_HOOK(L, globalconf.hooks.startup_notification);
-}
-
 /** Set the function to be called every N seconds.
  * \param L The Lua VM state.
  * \return The number of elements pushed on stack.
@@ -226,7 +212,6 @@ const struct luaL_reg awesome_hooks_lib[] =
     { "clients", luaA_hooks_clients },
     { "tags", luaA_hooks_tags },
     { "tagged", luaA_hooks_tagged },
-    { "startup_notification", luaA_hooks_startup_notification },
     { "timer", luaA_hooks_timer },
     { "exit", luaA_hooks_exit },
     { NULL, NULL }
diff --git a/lib/awful/startup_notification.lua.in b/lib/awful/startup_notification.lua.in
index 1f061e9ff..f6caac5d6 100644
--- a/lib/awful/startup_notification.lua.in
+++ b/lib/awful/startup_notification.lua.in
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 -- Grab environment we need
-local hooks = require("awful.hooks")
 local ipairs = ipairs
 local table = table
 local capi =
 {
+    awesome = awesome,
     root = root
 }
 
@@ -43,16 +43,12 @@ local function register_event(event_id)
     update_cursor()
 end
 
-local function startup_hook(event)
-    if event.type == "initiated" then
-        register_event(event.id)
-    elseif event.type == "canceled"
-        or event.type == "completed"
-        or event.type == "timedout" then
-        unregister_event(event.id)
-    end
-end
+local function unregister_hook(event) unregister_event(event.id) end
+local function register_hook(event) register_event(event.id) end
 
-hooks.startup_notification.register(startup_hook)
+capi.awesome.add_signal("spawn::initiated", register_hook)
+capi.awesome.add_signal("spawn::canceled", unregister_hook)
+capi.awesome.add_signal("spawn::completed", unregister_hook)
+capi.awesome.add_signal("spawn::timeout", unregister_hook)
 
 -- vim: filetype=lua:expandtab:shiftwidth=4:tabstop=8:softtabstop=4:encoding=utf-8:textwidth=80
diff --git a/luaa.c b/luaa.c
index cef0fff6c..bd877c9c0 100644
--- a/luaa.c
+++ b/luaa.c
@@ -619,6 +619,67 @@ luaA_awesome_newindex(lua_State *L)
     return 0;
 }
 
+/** Add a global signal.
+ * \param L The Lua VM state.
+ * \return The number of elements pushed on stack.
+ * \luastack
+ * \lparam A string with the event name.
+ * \lparam The function to call.
+ */
+static int
+luaA_awesome_add_signal(lua_State *L)
+{
+    const char *name = luaL_checkstring(L, 1);
+    luaA_checkfunction(L, 2);
+    signal_add(&global_signals, name, luaA_object_ref(L, 2));
+    return 0;
+}
+
+/** Remove a global signal.
+ * \param L The Lua VM state.
+ * \return The number of elements pushed on stack.
+ * \luastack
+ * \lparam A string with the event name.
+ * \lparam The function to call.
+ */
+static int
+luaA_awesome_remove_signal(lua_State *L)
+{
+    const char *name = luaL_checkstring(L, 1);
+    luaA_checkfunction(L, 2);
+    const void *func = lua_topointer(L, 2);
+    signal_remove(&global_signals, name, func);
+    luaA_object_unref(L, (void *) func);
+    return 0;
+}
+
+/** Emit a global signal.
+ * \param L The Lua VM state.
+ * \return The number of elements pushed on stack.
+ * \luastack
+ * \lparam A string with the event name.
+ * \lparam The function to call.
+ */
+static int
+luaA_awesome_emit_signal(lua_State *L)
+{
+    const char *name = luaL_checkstring(L, 1);
+    signal_t *sigfound = signal_array_getbyid(&global_signals,
+                                              a_strhash((const unsigned char *) name));
+    if(sigfound)
+    {
+        int nargs = lua_gettop(L) - 1;
+        foreach(ref, sigfound->sigfuncs)
+        {
+            for(int i = 0; i < nargs; i++)
+                lua_pushvalue(L, - nargs);
+            luaA_object_push(L, (void *) *ref);
+            luaA_dofunction(L, nargs, 0);
+        }
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
+
 /** Initialize the Lua VM
  * \param xdg An xdg handle to use to get XDG basedir.
  */
@@ -632,6 +693,9 @@ luaA_init(xdgHandle* xdg)
         { "exec", luaA_exec },
         { "spawn", luaA_spawn },
         { "restart", luaA_restart },
+        { "add_signal", luaA_awesome_add_signal },
+        { "remove_signal", luaA_awesome_remove_signal },
+        { "emit_signal", luaA_awesome_emit_signal },
         { "__index", luaA_awesome_index },
         { "__newindex", luaA_awesome_newindex },
         { NULL, NULL }
@@ -715,7 +779,6 @@ luaA_init(xdgHandle* xdg)
     globalconf.hooks.tags = LUA_REFNIL;
     globalconf.hooks.tagged = LUA_REFNIL;
     globalconf.hooks.property = LUA_REFNIL;
-    globalconf.hooks.startup_notification = LUA_REFNIL;
     globalconf.hooks.timer = LUA_REFNIL;
     globalconf.hooks.exit = LUA_REFNIL;
 
diff --git a/luaa.h b/luaa.h
index 8adf7e4d5..e7d13fb7d 100644
--- a/luaa.h
+++ b/luaa.h
@@ -239,5 +239,8 @@ bool luaA_isloop(lua_State *, int);
         } \
     } while(0);
 
+/** Global signals */
+signal_array_t global_signals;
+
 #endif
 // vim: filetype=c:expandtab:shiftwidth=4:tabstop=8:softtabstop=4:encoding=utf-8:textwidth=80
diff --git a/spawn.c b/spawn.c
index 2998dec6f..72d4e83bb 100644
--- a/spawn.c
+++ b/spawn.c
@@ -67,16 +67,24 @@ spawn_sequence_remove(SnStartupSequence *s)
 static void
 spawn_monitor_timeout(struct ev_loop *loop, ev_timer *w, int revents)
 {
-    if(spawn_sequence_remove(w->data)
-       && globalconf.hooks.startup_notification != LUA_REFNIL)
+    if(spawn_sequence_remove(w->data))
     {
-        /* send a timeout event to hook function */
-        lua_createtable(globalconf.L, 0, 2);
-        lua_pushstring(globalconf.L, sn_startup_sequence_get_id(w->data));
-        lua_setfield(globalconf.L, -2, "id");
-        lua_pushliteral(globalconf.L, "timedout");
-        lua_setfield(globalconf.L, -2, "type");
-        luaA_dofunction_from_registry(globalconf.L, globalconf.hooks.startup_notification, 1, 0);
+         signal_t *sig = signal_array_getbyid(&global_signals,
+                                              a_strhash((const unsigned char *) "spawn::timeout"));
+         if(sig)
+         {
+             /* send a timeout signal */
+             lua_createtable(globalconf.L, 0, 2);
+             lua_pushstring(globalconf.L, sn_startup_sequence_get_id(w->data));
+             lua_setfield(globalconf.L, -2, "id");
+             foreach(func, sig->sigfuncs)
+             {
+                 lua_pushvalue(globalconf.L, -1);
+                 luaA_object_push(globalconf.L, (void *) *func);
+                 luaA_dofunction(globalconf.L, 1, 0);
+             }
+             lua_pop(globalconf.L, 1);
+         }
     }
     sn_startup_sequence_unref(w->data);
     p_delete(&w);
@@ -85,9 +93,6 @@ spawn_monitor_timeout(struct ev_loop *loop, ev_timer *w, int revents)
 static void
 spawn_monitor_event(SnMonitorEvent *event, void *data)
 {
-    if(globalconf.hooks.startup_notification == LUA_REFNIL)
-        return;
-
     SnStartupSequence *sequence = sn_monitor_event_get_startup_sequence(event);
     SnMonitorEventType event_type = sn_monitor_event_get_type(event);
 
@@ -95,14 +100,15 @@ spawn_monitor_event(SnMonitorEvent *event, void *data)
     lua_pushstring(globalconf.L, sn_startup_sequence_get_id(sequence));
     lua_setfield(globalconf.L, -2, "id");
 
+    const char *event_type_str = NULL;
+
     switch(event_type)
     {
       case SN_MONITOR_EVENT_INITIATED:
         /* ref the sequence for the array */
         sn_startup_sequence_ref(sequence);
         SnStartupSequence_array_append(&sn_waits, sequence);
-        lua_pushliteral(globalconf.L, "initiated");
-        lua_setfield(globalconf.L, -2, "type");
+        event_type_str = "spawn::initiated";
 
         /* Add a timeout function so we do not wait for this event to complete
          * for ever */
@@ -114,16 +120,13 @@ spawn_monitor_event(SnMonitorEvent *event, void *data)
         ev_timer_start(globalconf.loop, ev_timeout);
         break;
       case SN_MONITOR_EVENT_CHANGED:
-        lua_pushliteral(globalconf.L, "change");
-        lua_setfield(globalconf.L, -2, "type");
+        event_type_str = "spawn::change";
         break;
       case SN_MONITOR_EVENT_COMPLETED:
-        lua_pushliteral(globalconf.L, "completed");
-        lua_setfield(globalconf.L, -2, "type");
+        event_type_str = "spawn::completed";
         break;
       case SN_MONITOR_EVENT_CANCELED:
-        lua_pushliteral(globalconf.L, "canceled");
-        lua_setfield(globalconf.L, -2, "type");
+        event_type_str = "spawn::canceled";
         break;
     }
 
@@ -174,7 +177,20 @@ spawn_monitor_event(SnMonitorEvent *event, void *data)
         break;
     }
 
-    luaA_dofunction_from_registry(globalconf.L, globalconf.hooks.startup_notification, 1, 0);
+    /* send the signal */
+    signal_t *sig = signal_array_getbyid(&global_signals,
+                                         a_strhash((const unsigned char *) event_type_str));
+
+    if(sig)
+    {
+        foreach(func, sig->sigfuncs)
+        {
+            lua_pushvalue(globalconf.L, -1);
+            luaA_object_push(globalconf.L, (void *) *func);
+            luaA_dofunction(globalconf.L, 1, 0);
+        }
+        lua_pop(globalconf.L, 1);
+    }
 }
 
 /** Tell the spawn module that an app has been started.
diff --git a/structs.h b/structs.h
index c808dcff8..b741b0f4a 100644
--- a/structs.h
+++ b/structs.h
@@ -120,8 +120,6 @@ struct awesome_t
         int timer;
         /** Command to run on awesome exit */
         int exit;
-        /** Startup notification hooks */
-        int startup_notification;
     } hooks;
     /** The event loop */
     struct ev_loop *loop;