diff --git a/lib/misc/lvm-string.h b/lib/misc/lvm-string.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a502ce475
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/misc/lvm-string.h
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2001 Sistina Software (UK) Limited.
+ *
+ * This file is released under the LGPL.
+ */
+
+#ifndef _LVM_STRING_H
+#define _LVM_STRING_H
+
+#include <stdarg.h>
+
+/*
+ * Different versions of glibc have different
+ * return values for over full buffers.
+ */
+static inline int lvm_snprintf(char *str, size_t size, const char *format, ...)
+{
+	int n;
+	va_list ap;
+
+	va_start(ap, format);
+	n = vsnprintf(str, size, format, ap);
+	va_end(ap);
+
+	if (n < 0 || n == size)
+		return -1;
+
+	return n;
+}
+
+#endif