diff --git a/src/allmain.c b/src/allmain.c
index cde2ef9a2..957c47a44 100644
--- a/src/allmain.c
+++ b/src/allmain.c
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 /* NetHack may be freely redistributed.  See license for details. */
 
 /* various code that was replicated in *main.c */
-
+#define NEED_VARARGS
 #include "hack.h"
 #include <ctype.h>