diff --git a/Modules/_ctypes/callproc.c b/Modules/_ctypes/callproc.c
index b9932071cf9..701961150b4 100644
--- a/Modules/_ctypes/callproc.c
+++ b/Modules/_ctypes/callproc.c
@@ -70,7 +70,10 @@
 
 #include <ffi.h>
 #include "ctypes.h"
+#ifdef HAVE_ALLOCA_H
+/* AIX needs alloca.h for alloca() */
 #include <alloca.h>
+#endif
 
 #if defined(_DEBUG) || defined(__MINGW32__)
 /* Don't use structured exception handling on Windows if this is defined.
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 3d8dd6ad82f..281dfe16624 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -6937,7 +6937,7 @@ sys/param.h sys/select.h sys/sendfile.h sys/socket.h sys/statvfs.h \
 sys/stat.h sys/syscall.h sys/sys_domain.h sys/termio.h sys/time.h \
 sys/times.h sys/types.h sys/uio.h sys/un.h sys/utsname.h sys/wait.h pty.h \
 libutil.h sys/resource.h netpacket/packet.h sysexits.h bluetooth.h \
-bluetooth/bluetooth.h linux/tipc.h spawn.h util.h
+bluetooth/bluetooth.h linux/tipc.h spawn.h util.h alloca.h
 do :
   as_ac_Header=`$as_echo "ac_cv_header_$ac_header" | $as_tr_sh`
 ac_fn_c_check_header_mongrel "$LINENO" "$ac_header" "$as_ac_Header" "$ac_includes_default"
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 37e04882345..030b923f5ba 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1532,7 +1532,7 @@ sys/param.h sys/select.h sys/sendfile.h sys/socket.h sys/statvfs.h \
 sys/stat.h sys/syscall.h sys/sys_domain.h sys/termio.h sys/time.h \
 sys/times.h sys/types.h sys/uio.h sys/un.h sys/utsname.h sys/wait.h pty.h \
 libutil.h sys/resource.h netpacket/packet.h sysexits.h bluetooth.h \
-bluetooth/bluetooth.h linux/tipc.h spawn.h util.h)
+bluetooth/bluetooth.h linux/tipc.h spawn.h util.h alloca.h)
 CPPFLAGS=$ac_save_cppflags
 AC_HEADER_DIRENT
 AC_HEADER_MAJOR
diff --git a/pyconfig.h.in b/pyconfig.h.in
index 2d4536d4483..160ec79754c 100644
--- a/pyconfig.h.in
+++ b/pyconfig.h.in
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@
 /* Define to 1 if you have the `alarm' function. */
 #undef HAVE_ALARM
 
+/* Define to 1 if you have the <alloca.h> header file. */
+#undef HAVE_ALLOCA_H
+
 /* Define this if your time.h defines altzone. */
 #undef HAVE_ALTZONE