diff --git a/scripts/configure.in b/scripts/configure.in
index 86e8f431..1b4f7cfb 100644
--- a/scripts/configure.in
+++ b/scripts/configure.in
@@ -134,6 +134,8 @@ AC_HEADER_STDC
 dnl Check for compiler bool support
 AC_HEADER_STDBOOL
 
+AC_FUNC_ALLOCA
+
 dnl Need either setenv or putenv
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(setenv putenv)
 
diff --git a/utils/magic_alloca.h b/utils/magic_alloca.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4006f9fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/magic_alloca.h
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+/*
+ *  utils/magic_alloca.h
+ *
+ *  Copyright (C) 1985, 1990 Regents of the University of California.
+ *
+ *  Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
+ *  software and its documentation for any purpose and without
+ *  fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright
+ *  notice appear in all copies.  The University of California
+ *  makes no representations about the suitability of this
+ *  software for any purpose.  It is provided "as is" without
+ *  express or implied warranty.  Export of this software outside
+ *  of the United States of America may require an export license.
+ *
+ *  SPDX-License-Identifier: HPND-UC-export-US
+ *
+ *
+ *  This file contains code snippets that are part of the GNU autoconf 2.69
+ *  project documentation.  This project is licensed under GPLv3 with a
+ *  Section 7 clause outlined in autoconf-2.69/COPYING.EXCEPTION.
+ *
+ *  The documentation for the autoconf project is licensed under GNU Free
+ *  Documentation License Version 1.3 or any later version published by the
+ *  Free Software Foundation.  The snippets in here are taken entirely from the
+ *  documentation so fall under GFDL-1.3-or-later terms.
+ *  The documentation published by the FSF can be seen at
+ *   https://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.69/autoconf.html
+ *  This section seeks to provide attribution by providing references to the source
+ *  a link to the full license text and the required boilerplate text directly below:
+ *
+ *  Copyright (C) 1992-1996, 1998-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+ *
+ *    Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
+ *    document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
+ *    Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software
+ *    Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover texts, and
+ *    no Back-Cover Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the
+ *    section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License."
+ *
+ *  A full copy of the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is available at:
+ *    https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.html
+ *  SPDX-License-Identifier: GFDL-1.3-or-later
+ *
+ *
+ *  All other lines in this file are licensed under the HPND-UC-export-US license
+ *  at the top of this file inline with the main project licensing.
+ *
+ */
+
+#ifndef _MAGIC__ALLOCA_H
+#define _MAGIC__ALLOCA_H
+
+/* taken from autoconf documentation:
+ *    https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.69/html_node/Particular-Functions.html
+ *
+ * the reason this header exists is to help hide this ugliness and prevent copy-and-paste error etc..
+ *
+ * #include "utils/magic_alloca.h"
+ */
+#ifdef STDC_HEADERS
+# include <stdlib.h>
+# include <stddef.h>
+#else
+# ifdef HAVE_STDLIB_H
+#  include <stdlib.h>
+# endif
+#endif
+#ifdef HAVE_ALLOCA_H
+# include <alloca.h>
+#elif !defined alloca
+# ifdef __GNUC__
+#  define alloca __builtin_alloca
+# elif defined _AIX
+#  define alloca __alloca
+# elif defined _MSC_VER
+#  include <malloc.h>
+#  define alloca _alloca
+# elif !defined HAVE_ALLOCA
+#  ifdef  __cplusplus
+extern "C"
+#  endif
+void *alloca (size_t);
+# endif
+#endif
+
+#endif /* _MAGIC__ALLOCA_H */