diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e953951be8..5cd1de02c7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ all::
 # Define NO_D_TYPE_IN_DIRENT if your platform defines DT_UNKNOWN but lacks
 # d_type in struct dirent (Cygwin 1.5, fixed in Cygwin 1.7).
 #
+# Define HAVE_STRINGS_H if you have strings.h and need it for strcasecmp.
+#
 # Define NO_STRCASESTR if you don't have strcasestr.
 #
 # Define NO_MEMMEM if you don't have memmem.
@@ -1350,6 +1352,7 @@ ifeq ($(uname_S),NONSTOP_KERNEL)
 	# Added manually, see above.
 	NEEDS_SSL_WITH_CURL = YesPlease
 	HAVE_LIBCHARSET_H = YesPlease
+	HAVE_STRINGS_H = YesPlease
 	NEEDS_LIBICONV = YesPlease
 	NEEDS_LIBINTL_BEFORE_LIBICONV = YesPlease
 	NO_SYS_SELECT_H = UnfortunatelyYes
@@ -1883,6 +1886,10 @@ ifdef HAVE_LIBCHARSET_H
 	EXTLIBS += $(CHARSET_LIB)
 endif
 
+ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
+	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_STRINGS_H
+endif
+
 ifdef HAVE_DEV_TTY
 	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_DEV_TTY
 endif
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 66d0c91ece..e3ab6fe282 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -886,6 +886,12 @@ AC_CHECK_HEADER([libcharset.h],
 [HAVE_LIBCHARSET_H=YesPlease],
 [HAVE_LIBCHARSET_H=])
 GIT_CONF_SUBST([HAVE_LIBCHARSET_H])
+#
+# Define HAVE_STRINGS_H if you have strings.h
+AC_CHECK_HEADER([strings.h],
+[HAVE_STRINGS_H=YesPlease],
+[HAVE_STRINGS_H=])
+GIT_CONF_SUBST([HAVE_STRINGS_H])
 # Define CHARSET_LIB if libiconv does not export the locale_charset symbol
 # and libcharset does
 CHARSET_LIB=
diff --git a/git-compat-util.h b/git-compat-util.h
index ace154901f..d7359ef87f 100644
--- a/git-compat-util.h
+++ b/git-compat-util.h
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <string.h>
-#ifdef __TANDEM /* or HAVE_STRINGS_H or !NO_STRINGS_H? */
+#ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
 #include <strings.h> /* for strcasecmp() */
 #endif
 #include <errno.h>