diff --git a/compat/mingw-posix.h b/compat/mingw-posix.h
index 4539d3ca49..e154697865 100644
--- a/compat/mingw-posix.h
+++ b/compat/mingw-posix.h
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ 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 4673b1c34f..c27860e67f 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -1036,6 +1036,8 @@ static int do_stat_internal(int follow, const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
 	return do_lstat(follow, alt_name, buf);
 }
 
+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;