diff --git a/lib/ftp.c b/lib/ftp.c
index 39a0a64bf956e9a988069b685ef447c4fe062b6b..c6584572fb70c0f6d15feff2e1c6ff6bcae774db 100644
--- a/lib/ftp.c
+++ b/lib/ftp.c
@@ -770,16 +770,32 @@ CURLcode _ftp(struct connectdata *conn)
 # endif
 
         address = inet_addr(newhost);
-# if defined(HAVE_GETHOSTBYADDR_R)
-
-#  if (GETHOSTBYADDR_R_NARGS < 8)
+# ifdef HAVE_GETHOSTBYADDR_R
+
+#  ifdef HAVE_GETHOSTBYADDR_R_5
+        /* AIX, Digital Unix style:
+           extern int gethostbyaddr_r(char *addr, size_t len, int type,
+           struct hostent *htent, struct hostent_data *ht_data); */
+
+        /* Daniel: this implementation is really just guessing, please
+           verify this before trusting this. I don't have access to any
+           such system to try out! */
+        if(gethostbyaddr_r((char *) &address,
+                           sizeof(address), AF_INET,
+                           (struct hostent *)hostent_buf,
+                           hostent_buf + sizeof(*answer))
+           answer=NULL;
+                           
+#  endif
+#  ifdef HAVE_GETHOSTBYADDR_R_7
         /* Solaris and IRIX */
         answer = gethostbyaddr_r((char *) &address, sizeof(address), AF_INET,
                                  (struct hostent *)hostent_buf,
                                  hostent_buf + sizeof(*answer),
                                  sizeof(hostent_buf) - sizeof(*answer),
                                  &h_errnop);
-#  else
+#  endif
+#  ifdef HAVE_GETHOSTBYADDR_R_8
         /* Linux style */
         if(gethostbyaddr_r((char *) &address, sizeof(address), AF_INET,
                            (struct hostent *)hostent_buf,
diff --git a/lib/hostip.c b/lib/hostip.c
index 9b402f1cb2f676b0d96de61f4de39e793a62d1ce..6bccab8fccbd0c7c6ef40e64afa2fc40f990ae22 100644
--- a/lib/hostip.c
+++ b/lib/hostip.c
@@ -116,31 +116,45 @@ struct hostent *GetHost(struct UrlData *data,
     h->h_name = *(h->h_addr_list) + h->h_length;
     /* bad one h->h_name = (char*)(h->h_addr_list + h->h_length); */
     MakeIP(ntohl(in),h->h_name,buf_size - (long)(h->h_name) + (long)buf);
-#if defined(HAVE_GETHOSTBYNAME_R)
   }
+#if defined(HAVE_GETHOSTBYNAME_R)
   else {
     int h_errnop;
     memset(buf,0,buf_size);	/* workaround for gethostbyname_r bug in qnx nto */
-#if (GETHOSTBYNAME_R_NARGS < 6)
+#ifdef HAVE_GETHOSTBYNAME_R_5
     /* Solaris, IRIX and more */
     if ((h = gethostbyname_r(hostname,
-                             (struct hostent *)buf,buf +
-                             sizeof(struct hostent),buf_size -
-                             sizeof(struct hostent),&h_errnop)) == NULL )
-#else
-      /* Linux */
-      if( gethostbyname_r(hostname,
-                          (struct hostent *)buf,buf +
-                          sizeof(struct hostent),buf_size -
-                          sizeof(struct hostent),
-                          &h, /* DIFFERENCE */
-                          &h_errnop))
+                             (struct hostent *)buf,
+                             buf + sizeof(struct hostent),
+                             buf_size - sizeof(struct hostent),
+                             &h_errnop)) == NULL )
+#endif
+#ifdef HAVE_GETHOSTBYNAME_R_6
+    /* Linux */
+    if( gethostbyname_r(hostname,
+                        (struct hostent *)buf,
+                        buf + sizeof(struct hostent),
+                        buf_size - sizeof(struct hostent),
+                        &h, /* DIFFERENCE */
+                        &h_errnop))
+#endif
+#ifdef HAVE_GETHOSTBYNAME_R_3
+    /* AIX, Digital Unix, more? */
+
+    /* August 4th, 2000. I don't have any such system around so I write this
+       blindly in hope it might work or that someone else will help me fix
+       this. */
+
+    h = gethostbyname_r(hostname,
+                        (struct hostent *)buf,
+                        (struct hostent_data *) buf +  sizeof(struct hostent));
+    *h_errnop= errno; /* we don't deal with this, but set it anyway */
+    if(NULL == h)
 #endif
       {
       infof(data, "gethostbyname_r(2) failed for %s\n", hostname);
     }
 #else
-  }
   else {
     if ((h = gethostbyname(hostname)) == NULL ) {
       infof(data, "gethostbyname(2) failed for %s\n", hostname);