diff --git a/engine/common/common.c b/engine/common/common.c
index 06634937..c8baf28b 100644
--- a/engine/common/common.c
+++ b/engine/common/common.c
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 GNU General Public License for more details.
 */
 
+#if defined( ALLOCA_H )
+#include ALLOCA_H
+#endif
 #include "common.h"
 #include "studio.h"
 #include "xash3d_mathlib.h"
diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index 7836ebf5..c283d47a 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -290,6 +290,12 @@ def configure(conf):
 	else:
 		conf.undefine('HAVE_TGMATH_H')
 
+	# check if we can use alloca.h or malloc.h
+	if conf.check_cc(header_name='alloca.h', mandatory=False):
+		conf.define('ALLOCA_H', 'alloca.h')
+	elif conf.check_cc(header_name='malloc.h', mandatory=False):
+		conf.define('ALLOCA_H', 'malloc.h')
+
 	# indicate if we are packaging for Linux/BSD
 	if conf.options.PACKAGING:
 		conf.env.LIBDIR = conf.env.BINDIR = '${PREFIX}/lib/xash3d'