diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 0b5cabc2..b14a420c 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ AC_CHECK_SIZEOF(short)
 AC_CHECK_SIZEOF(size_t)
 AC_CHECK_SIZEOF(void *)
 
-AC_CHECK_TYPES([struct in6_addr, struct sockaddr_in6, sa_family_t, struct addrinfo], , ,
+AC_CHECK_TYPES([struct in6_addr, struct sockaddr_in6, sa_family_t, struct addrinfo, struct sockaddr_storage], , ,
 [#define _GNU_SOURCE
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #ifdef HAVE_NETINET_IN_H
diff --git a/util-internal.h b/util-internal.h
index 5c153d30..4d8551d5 100644
--- a/util-internal.h
+++ b/util-internal.h
@@ -205,6 +205,23 @@ long _evutil_weakrand(void);
 #define EVUTIL_FAILURE_CHECK(cond) EVUTIL_UNLIKELY(cond)
 #endif
 
+#ifndef _EVENT_HAVE_STRUCT_SOCKADDR_STORAGE
+/* Replacement for sockaddr storage that we can use internally on platforms
+ * that lack it.  It is not space-efficient, but neither is sockaddr_storage.
+ */
+struct sockaddr_storage {
+	union {
+		struct sockaddr ss_sa;
+		struct sockaddr_in ss_sin;
+#ifdef _EVENT_HAVE_STRUCT_SOCKADDR_IN6
+		struct sockaddr_in6 ss_sin6;
+#endif
+		char ss_padding[128];
+	} ss_union;
+};
+#define ss_family ss_union.ss_sa.sa_family
+#endif
+
 /* Internal addrinfo error code.  This one is returned from only from
  * evutil_getaddrinfo_common, when we are sure that we'll have to hit a DNS
  * server. */