diff --git a/src/common.h b/src/common.h
index 1a2e9c0f1..f5be02b49 100644
--- a/src/common.h
+++ b/src/common.h
@@ -10,4 +10,7 @@
 #include <string.h>
 
 #include "git/common.h"
+
+#define GIT_PATH_MAX 4096
+
 #endif /* INCLUDE_common_h__ */
diff --git a/src/fileops.c b/src/fileops.c
index 0e6e7fdcb..e5f6ef800 100644
--- a/src/fileops.c
+++ b/src/fileops.c
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#include "common.h"
 #include "fileops.h"
 
 int gitfo_read(git_file fd, void *buf, size_t cnt)
@@ -141,7 +142,7 @@ int gitfo_close_cached(gitfo_cache *ioc)
  */
 int git_foreach_dirent(const char *wd, int (*fn)(void *, const char *), void *arg)
 {
-	char path[PATH_MAX];
+	char path[GIT_PATH_MAX];
 	size_t wd_len;
 	DIR *dir;
 	struct dirent *de;