diff --git a/compat/mingw-posix.h b/compat/mingw-posix.h
index 2362ce6897..1a917890b1 100644
--- a/compat/mingw-posix.h
+++ b/compat/mingw-posix.h
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ int mingw_fstat(int fd, struct stat *buf);
 #ifdef lstat
 #undef lstat
 #endif
-#define lstat mingw_lstat
+extern int (*lstat)(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf);
 
 
 int mingw_utime(const char *file_name, const struct utimbuf *times);
diff --git a/compat/mingw.c b/compat/mingw.c
index 2718d5fa5d..5353a6e15e 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -1250,6 +1250,8 @@ int mingw_lstat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
 	return -1;
 }
 
+int (*lstat)(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf) = mingw_lstat;
+
 static int get_file_info_by_handle(HANDLE hnd, struct stat *buf)
 {
 	BY_HANDLE_FILE_INFORMATION fdata;