diff --git a/include/polarssl/config.h b/include/polarssl/config.h
index b9eee83..fddd50b 100644
--- a/include/polarssl/config.h
+++ b/include/polarssl/config.h
@@ -326,6 +326,17 @@
 #define POLARSSL_KEY_EXCHANGE_ECDHE_RSA_ENABLED
 
 /**
+ * \def POLARSSL_ERROR_STRERROR_BC
+ *
+ * Make available the backward compatible error_strerror() next to the
+ * current polarssl_strerror().
+ *
+ * Disable if you run into name conflicts and want to really remove the
+ * error_strerror()
+ */
+#define POLARSSL_ERROR_STRERROR_BC
+
+/**
  * \def POLARSSL_ERROR_STRERROR_DUMMY
  *
  * Enable a dummy error function to make use of error_strerror() in
diff --git a/include/polarssl/error.h b/include/polarssl/error.h
index 0c3fb80..7658814 100644
--- a/include/polarssl/error.h
+++ b/include/polarssl/error.h
@@ -103,7 +103,11 @@
  * \param buffer    buffer to place representation in
  * \param buflen    length of the buffer
  */
+void polarssl_strerror( int errnum, char *buffer, size_t buflen );
+
+#if defined(POLARSSL_ERROR_STRERROR_BC)
 void error_strerror( int errnum, char *buffer, size_t buflen );
+#endif
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }