diff --git a/linux/Makefile b/linux/Makefile
index 342445004c..01b5a358e9 100644
--- a/linux/Makefile
+++ b/linux/Makefile
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ include ../config.mak
 
 LIBNAME = libosdep.a
 
-SRCS=getch2.c timer-lx.c shmem.c strsep.c scandir.c # timer.c
+SRCS=getch2.c timer-lx.c shmem.c strsep.c vsscanf.c scandir.c # timer.c
 OBJS=$(SRCS:.c=.o)
 
 ifeq ($(TARGET_ARCH_X86),yes)
diff --git a/linux/vsscanf.c b/linux/vsscanf.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..49bfebe56c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linux/vsscanf.c
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#include "../config.h"
+
+#ifndef	HAVE_VSSCANF
+/* system has no vsscanf.  try to provide one */
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdarg.h>
+
+int
+vsscanf(const char *str, const char *format, va_list ap)
+{
+    /* XXX: can this be implemented in a more portable way? */
+    long p1 = va_arg(ap, long);
+    long p2 = va_arg(ap, long);
+    long p3 = va_arg(ap, long);
+    long p4 = va_arg(ap, long);
+    long p5 = va_arg(ap, long);
+    return sscanf(str, format, p1, p2, p3, p4, p5);
+}
+#endif