diff --git a/WHATS_NEW b/WHATS_NEW
index bdd2fa635..2279c4275 100644
--- a/WHATS_NEW
+++ b/WHATS_NEW
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 Version 2.02.181 - 
 =================================
+  Introduce --enable-symvers[=STYLE] switch.
 
 Version 2.02.180 - 19th July 2018
 =================================
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 7d945dfa8..94cd6b1ea 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -975,6 +975,7 @@ enable_fsadm
 enable_blkdeactivate
 enable_dmeventd
 enable_selinux
+enable_symvers
 enable_nls
 with_localedir
 with_confdir
@@ -1725,6 +1726,9 @@ Optional Features:
   --disable-blkdeactivate disable blkdeactivate
   --enable-dmeventd       enable the device-mapper event daemon
   --disable-selinux       disable selinux support
+  --enable-symvers[=STYLE]
+                          enables symbol versioning of the shared library
+                          [default=gnu]
   --enable-nls            enable Native Language Support
 
 Optional Packages:
@@ -3156,7 +3160,6 @@ if test -z "$CFLAGS"; then :
 fi
 case "$host_os" in
 	linux*)
-		CLDFLAGS="$CLDFLAGS -Wl,--version-script,.export.sym"
 		# equivalent to -rdynamic
 		ELDFLAGS="-Wl,--export-dynamic"
 		# FIXME Generate list and use --dynamic-list=.dlopen.sym
@@ -3178,7 +3181,6 @@ case "$host_os" in
 		;;
 	darwin*)
 		CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -no-cpp-precomp -fno-common"
-		CLDFLAGS="$CLDFLAGS"
 		ELDFLAGS=
 		CLDWHOLEARCHIVE="-all_load"
 		CLDNOWHOLEARCHIVE=
@@ -14401,6 +14403,32 @@ done
 	LIBS=$lvm_saved_libs
 fi
 
+################################################################################
+{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking whether to enable symbol versioning" >&5
+$as_echo_n "checking whether to enable symbol versioning... " >&6; }
+# Check whether --enable-symvers was given.
+if test "${enable_symvers+set}" = set; then :
+  enableval=$enable_symvers;
+  case "$enableval" in
+    gnu|no) ;;
+    *) as_fn_error $? "Unknown argument to enable/disable symvers" "$LINENO" 5 ;;
+  esac
+else
+  enable_symvers=gnu
+fi
+
+{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $enable_symvers" >&5
+$as_echo "$enable_symvers" >&6; }
+
+if test x$GCC = xyes && test x$enable_symvers = xgnu ; then
+
+$as_echo "#define GNU_SYMVER 1" >>confdefs.h
+
+  case "$host_os" in
+    linux*) CLDFLAGS="$CLDFLAGS -Wl,--version-script,.export.sym" ;;
+  esac
+fi
+
 ################################################################################
 { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking whether to enable internationalisation" >&5
 $as_echo_n "checking whether to enable internationalisation... " >&6; }
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e427708cd..e0c4adcca 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ AC_CANONICAL_TARGET([])
 AS_IF([test -z "$CFLAGS"], [COPTIMISE_FLAG="-O2"])
 case "$host_os" in
 	linux*)
-		CLDFLAGS="$CLDFLAGS -Wl,--version-script,.export.sym"
 		# equivalent to -rdynamic
 		ELDFLAGS="-Wl,--export-dynamic"
 		# FIXME Generate list and use --dynamic-list=.dlopen.sym
@@ -52,7 +51,6 @@ case "$host_os" in
 		;;
 	darwin*)
 		CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -no-cpp-precomp -fno-common"
-		CLDFLAGS="$CLDFLAGS"
 		ELDFLAGS=
 		CLDWHOLEARCHIVE="-all_load"
 		CLDNOWHOLEARCHIVE=
@@ -1656,6 +1654,28 @@ package as well (which may be called readline-devel or something similar).])
 	LIBS=$lvm_saved_libs
 fi
 
+################################################################################
+dnl -- Symbol versioning
+AC_MSG_CHECKING(whether to enable symbol versioning)
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(symvers,
+              AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-symvers[[[=STYLE]]]],
+                             [enables symbol versioning of the shared library [default=gnu]]),
+                             [
+  case "$enableval" in
+    gnu|no) ;;
+    *) AC_MSG_ERROR(Unknown argument to enable/disable symvers) ;;
+  esac],
+                             enable_symvers=gnu)
+AC_MSG_RESULT($enable_symvers)
+
+if test x$GCC = xyes && test x$enable_symvers = xgnu ; then
+  AC_DEFINE(GNU_SYMVER, 1,
+            [Define to use GNU versioning in the shared library.])
+  case "$host_os" in
+    linux*) CLDFLAGS="$CLDFLAGS -Wl,--version-script,.export.sym" ;;
+  esac
+fi
+
 ################################################################################
 dnl -- Internationalisation stuff
 AC_MSG_CHECKING(whether to enable internationalisation)
diff --git a/include/configure.h.in b/include/configure.h.in
index 15fd150ed..7a07a10ef 100644
--- a/include/configure.h.in
+++ b/include/configure.h.in
@@ -147,6 +147,9 @@
 /* Path to fsadm binary. */
 #undef FSADM_PATH
 
+/* Define to use GNU versioning in the shared library. */
+#undef GNU_SYMVER
+
 /* Define to 1 if you have the `alarm' function. */
 #undef HAVE_ALARM
 
diff --git a/lib/misc/lib.h b/lib/misc/lib.h
index d7fa5c721..7cf98f932 100644
--- a/lib/misc/lib.h
+++ b/lib/misc/lib.h
@@ -41,16 +41,16 @@
  * macro DM_EXPORT_SYMBOL to export the function and bind it to the
  * specified version string.
  *
- * Since versioning is only available when compiling with GCC the entire
- * compatibility version should be enclosed in '#if defined(__GNUC__)',
- * for example:
+ * Since versioning is only available when compiling with GCC
+ * and GLIBC the entire compatibility version should be enclosed
+ * in '#if defined(GNU_SYMVER)', for example:
  *
  *   int dm_foo(int bar)
  *   {
  *     return bar;
  *   }
  *
- *   #if defined(__GNUC__)
+ *   #if defined(GNU_SYMVER)
  *   // Backward compatible dm_foo() version 1.02.104
  *   int dm_foo_v1_02_104(void);
  *   int dm_foo_v1_02_104(void)
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
  * versions of library symbols prior to the introduction of symbol
  * versioning: it must never be used for new symbols.
  */
-#if defined(__GNUC__)
+#if defined(GNU_SYMVER)
 #define DM_EXPORT_SYMBOL(func, ver) \
 	__asm__(".symver " #func "_v" #ver ", " #func "@DM_" #ver )
 #define DM_EXPORT_SYMBOL_BASE(func) \
diff --git a/libdm/datastruct/bitset.c b/libdm/datastruct/bitset.c
index b0826e1eb..2ec3f8f84 100644
--- a/libdm/datastruct/bitset.c
+++ b/libdm/datastruct/bitset.c
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ bad:
 	return NULL;
 }
 
-#if defined(__GNUC__)
+#if defined(GNU_SYMVER)
 /*
  * Maintain backward compatibility with older versions that did not
  * accept a 'min_num_bits' argument to dm_bitset_parse_list().
@@ -253,7 +253,4 @@ dm_bitset_t dm_bitset_parse_list_v1_02_129(const char *str, struct dm_pool *mem)
 	return dm_bitset_parse_list(str, mem, 0);
 }
 DM_EXPORT_SYMBOL(dm_bitset_parse_list, 1_02_129);
-
-#else /* if defined(__GNUC__) */
-
 #endif
diff --git a/libdm/ioctl/libdm-iface.c b/libdm/ioctl/libdm-iface.c
index 769b69c1b..28e2eadee 100644
--- a/libdm/ioctl/libdm-iface.c
+++ b/libdm/ioctl/libdm-iface.c
@@ -2145,7 +2145,7 @@ void dm_lib_exit(void)
 	_version_checked = 0;
 }
 
-#if defined(__GNUC__)
+#if defined(GNU_SYMVER)
 /*
  * Maintain binary backward compatibility.
  * Version script mechanism works with 'gcc' compatible compilers only.
diff --git a/libdm/libdm-deptree.c b/libdm/libdm-deptree.c
index ab0545659..00651c0b2 100644
--- a/libdm/libdm-deptree.c
+++ b/libdm/libdm-deptree.c
@@ -3797,7 +3797,7 @@ void dm_tree_node_set_callback(struct dm_tree_node *dnode,
 	dnode->callback_data = data;
 }
 
-#if defined(__GNUC__)
+#if defined(GNU_SYMVER)
 /*
  * Backward compatible implementations.
  *
diff --git a/libdm/libdm-stats.c b/libdm/libdm-stats.c
index 94ad380e0..76efbbe35 100644
--- a/libdm/libdm-stats.c
+++ b/libdm/libdm-stats.c
@@ -5065,7 +5065,7 @@ int dm_stats_start_filemapd(int fd, uint64_t group_id, const char *path,
  * current dm_stats_create_region() version.
  */
 
-#if defined(__GNUC__)
+#if defined(GNU_SYMVER)
 int dm_stats_create_region_v1_02_106(struct dm_stats *dms, uint64_t *region_id,
 				     uint64_t start, uint64_t len, int64_t step,
 				     int precise, const char *program_id,
