diff --git a/Make-common.dist b/Make-common.dist
index c880481571..2fd9bae15d 100644
--- a/Make-common.dist
+++ b/Make-common.dist
@@ -225,6 +225,10 @@ LDAP_DEBUG=-DLDAP_DEBUG
 # uncomment this line to eliminate local caching support in the libldap
 #NO_CACHE=-DNO_CACHE
 
+# uncomment this line to do reverse lookups (useful for doing ACLs
+# by host/domain names)
+LDAP_REVERSE_LOOKUP=-DREVERSE_LOOKUP
+
 # uncomment this line to enable support for LDAP referrals in libldap
 LDAP_REFERRALS=-DLDAP_REFERRALS
 
diff --git a/build/Make-append b/build/Make-append
index 67a2f29bb0..a899b45051 100644
--- a/build/Make-append
+++ b/build/Make-append
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 # DEFS are included in CFLAGS
 DEFS	= $(PLATFORMCFLAGS) $(LDAP_DEBUG) $(KERBEROS) $(AFSKERBEROS) \
 		$(UOFM) $(UOFA) $(NO_USERINTERFACE) $(CLDAP) $(NO_CACHE) \
+		$(LDAP_REVERSE_LOOKUP) \
 		$(LDAP_REFERRALS) $(LDAP_DNS) $(STR_TRANSLATION) \
 		$(LIBLDAP_CHARSETS) $(LIBLDAP_DEF_CHARSET) \
 		$(SLAPD_BACKENDS) $(LDBMBACKEND) $(LDBMINCLUDE) $(PHONETIC)