diff --git a/libsysio/configure.in b/libsysio/configure.in
index c6b6e30a495b5da00c8846bd5d5304200686ffe4..85a0aee62f05160bccb6a469afc9754be713bbeb 100644
--- a/libsysio/configure.in
+++ b/libsysio/configure.in
@@ -209,6 +209,20 @@ if test "$machine" = rs6000; then
 	machine="powerpc"
 fi
 
+AC_MSG_CHECKING(if readlink returns ssize_t)
+AC_TRY_COMPILE([
+	include <unistd.h>
+],[
+	ssize_t readlink(const char *, char *, size_t);
+],
+	readlink_returns_ssize_t="yes",
+	readlink_returns_ssize_t="no"
+)
+AC_MSG_RESULT($readlink_returns_ssize_t)
+if test x$readlink_returns_ssize_t = xyes; then
+	AC_DEFINE(HAVE_POSIX_1003_READLINK, 1, [readlink returns ssize_t])
+fi
+
 # If we can't provoke the declaration of stat64 then we assume the
 # environment supports 64-bit file support naturally. Beware!
 AC_MSG_CHECKING(whether _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE definition is required)
diff --git a/libsysio/include/sysio.h b/libsysio/include/sysio.h
index 770d741f3dbbdedf444a4d03eaa44054d6545410..bae86c20e1cf95ae51dfe90bfbea31b46c67a359 100644
--- a/libsysio/include/sysio.h
+++ b/libsysio/include/sysio.h
@@ -247,7 +247,11 @@ extern int SYSIO_INTERFACE_NAME(ftruncate64)(int fd, off64_t length);
 #endif
 extern int SYSIO_INTERFACE_NAME(rmdir)(const char *path);
 extern int SYSIO_INTERFACE_NAME(symlink)(const char *path1, const char *path2);
+#ifdef HAVE_POSIX_1003_READLINK
+extern ssize_t SYSIO_INTERFACE_NAME(readlink)(const char *path,
+#else
 extern int SYSIO_INTERFACE_NAME(readlink)(const char *path,
+#endif
 				char *buf,
 				size_t bufsiz);
 extern int SYSIO_INTERFACE_NAME(link)(const char *oldpath, const char *newpath);
diff --git a/libsysio/src/readlink.c b/libsysio/src/readlink.c
index 8693dc3d94ff34239f1c33f2cf843bc7f8d5249d..2497dfd311370e9a41e459073ca0d3c5e70752f9 100644
--- a/libsysio/src/readlink.c
+++ b/libsysio/src/readlink.c
@@ -55,7 +55,11 @@
 #include "inode.h"
 #include "sysio-symbols.h"
 
+#ifdef HAVE_POSIX_1003_READLINK
+ssize_t
+#else
 int
+#endif
 SYSIO_INTERFACE_NAME(readlink)(const char *path, char *buf, size_t bufsiz)
 {
 	struct intent intent;