diff --git a/include/getopt-compat.h b/include/getopt-compat.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b82dc9fd8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/getopt-compat.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/*
+ * getopt(3) declarations
+ */
+#ifndef _GETOPT_COMPAT_H
+#define _GETOPT_COMPAT_H
+
+#include <ldap_cdefs.h>
+
+extern char *optarg;
+extern int optind, opterr, optopt;
+
+LDAP_F int getopt LDAP_P((int, char * const [], const char *));
+
+#endif /* _GETOPT_COMPAT_H */