diff --git a/libtar/gethostbyname_r.c b/libtar/gethostbyname_r.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5264b84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libtar/gethostbyname_r.c
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+**  Copyright 2002 University of Illinois Board of Trustees
+**  Copyright 2002 Mark D. Roth
+**  All rights reserved.
+**
+**  gethostbyname_r.c - gethostbyname_r() function for compatibility library
+**
+**  Mark D. Roth <roth@uiuc.edu>
+**  Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services
+**  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
+*/
+
+#include <config.h>
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <netdb.h>
+
+
+int
+compat_gethostbyname_r(const char *name, struct hostent *hp,
+		       char *buf, size_t buflen,
+		       struct hostent **hpp, int *herr)
+{
+#if GETHOSTBYNAME_R_NUM_ARGS == 5
+	*hpp = gethostbyname_r(name, hp, buf, buflen, herr);
+
+	if (*hpp == NULL)
+		return -1;
+	return 0;
+#elif GETHOSTBYNAME_R_NUM_ARGS == 3
+	struct hostent_data hdata;
+
+	if (gethostbyname_r(name, hp, &hdata) == -1)
+		return -1;
+	*hpp = hp;
+	return 0;
+#endif /* GETHOSTBYNAME_R_NUM_ARGS == 5 */
+}
+
+