diff --git a/sys/unix/hints/include/compiler.370 b/sys/unix/hints/include/compiler.370
index 69a124ef5..36eff25e7 100755
--- a/sys/unix/hints/include/compiler.370
+++ b/sys/unix/hints/include/compiler.370
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ CFLAGS+=-Wall -Wextra  \
 	-Wreturn-type -Wunused -Wformat -Wswitch -Wshadow -Wwrite-strings
 CFLAGS+=-pedantic
 CFLAGS+=-Wmissing-declarations
-#CFLAGS+=-Wno-missing-field-initializers
 #CFLAGS+=-Wformat=2
 
 # these are left out of the C++ flags
@@ -90,6 +89,9 @@ CXX=clang++ -std=gnu++11
 CLANGGTEQ14 := $(shell expr `$(CC) -dumpversion | cut -f1 -d.` \>= 14)
 ifeq "$(CLANGGTEQ14)" "1"
 CFLAGS+=-Wno-deprecated-declarations
+else
+# older versions complain about things newer ones don't without this
+CFLAGS+=-Wno-missing-field-initializers
 endif
 # none
 endif  # clang-specific ends here