diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index 6995ee9..029223b 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -1041,7 +1041,7 @@ void free_real(const char *func, unsigned int line, void *ptr)
    EOF reached and we return zero. */
 int get_line_alloc(FILE *f, char **buffp, size_t *sizep)
 {
-  char c;
+  int c;
   size_t cnt = 0;
   char *buff = *buffp;