diff --git a/src/common/va_copy.h b/src/common/va_copy.h
index 4164dd319..7e0ded6bb 100644
--- a/src/common/va_copy.h
+++ b/src/common/va_copy.h
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@
 
 
 
+/* va_copy is not allowed to be defined */
+#if defined(va_copy)
+#error "The compiler is broken!"
+#endif
+
 /* The watcom compiler doesn't have va_copy and a problematic va_list definition */
 #if defined(__WATCOMC__)
 #define va_copy(dest,src)       memcpy((dest), (src), sizeof (va_list))
@@ -53,6 +58,11 @@
 #define va_copy(dest,src)       __va_copy(dest, src)
 #endif
 
+/* If we don't have va_copy now, use a generic version */
+#if !defined(va_copy)
+#define va_copy(dest,src)       ((src)=(dest))
+#endif
+
 
 
 #endif  /* #if (__STDC_VERSION__ < 199901) */