diff --git a/configure b/configure
index afeaf420f1..fa12bf13ff 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1573,6 +1573,21 @@ echocheck "linux devfs"
 echores "$_linux_devfs"
 
 
+echocheck "strsep()"
+cat > $TMPC << EOF
+#include <string.h>
+int main (void) { char *s = "Hello, world!"; (void) strsep(&s, ","); return 0; }
+EOF
+_strsep=no
+cc_check && _strsep=yes
+if test "$_strsep" = yes ; then
+ _def_strsep='#define HAVE_STRSEP 1'
+else
+ _def_strsep='#undef HAVE_STRSEP'
+fi
+echores "$_strsep"
+
+
 echocheck "vsscanf()"
 cat > $TMPC << EOF
 #include <stdarg.h>
@@ -3484,6 +3499,9 @@ $_def_zlib
 /* Define this if you have shm support */
 $_def_shm
 
+/* Define this if your system has strsep */
+$_def_strsep
+
 /* Define this if your system has vsscanf */
 $_def_vsscanf
 
diff --git a/linux/Makefile b/linux/Makefile
index ec02fb2acd..4e7ec994ee 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 # timer.c
+SRCS=getch2.c timer-lx.c shmem.c strsep.c # timer.c
 OBJS=$(SRCS:.c=.o)
 
 ifeq ($(TARGET_ARCH_X86),yes)
diff --git a/linux/strsep.c b/linux/strsep.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..863a39cc70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linux/strsep.c
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/* strsep implementation for systems that do not have it in libc */
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#include "../config.h"
+
+#ifndef HAVE_STRSEP
+char *strsep(char **stringp, const char *delim) {
+  char *begin, *end;
+
+  begin = *stringp;
+  if(begin == NULL)
+    return NULL;
+
+  if(delim[0] == '\0' || delim[1] == '\0') {
+    char ch = delim[0];
+
+    if(ch == '\0')
+      end = NULL;
+    else {
+      if(*begin == ch)
+        end = begin;
+      else if(*begin == '\0')
+        end = NULL;
+      else
+        end = strchr(begin + 1, ch);
+    }
+  }
+  else
+    end = strpbrk(begin, delim);
+
+  if(end) {
+    *end++ = '\0';
+    *stringp = end;
+  }
+  else
+    *stringp = NULL;
+ 
+  return begin;
+}
+#endif