diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 6dd7eda..ef6a416 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -959,6 +959,7 @@ enable_fsadm
 enable_blkdeactivate
 enable_dmeventd
 enable_selinux
+enable_symvers
 enable_nls
 with_localedir
 with_confdir
@@ -1677,6 +1678,9 @@ 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:
@@ -3077,7 +3081,6 @@ if test -z "$CFLAGS"; then :
 fi
 case "$host_os" in
 	linux*)
-		CLDFLAGS="${CLDFLAGS-"$LDFLAGS"} -Wl,--version-script,.export.sym"
 		# equivalent to -rdynamic
 		ELDFLAGS="-Wl,--export-dynamic"
 		# FIXME Generate list and use --dynamic-list=.dlopen.sym
@@ -12969,6 +12972,33 @@ 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/lib/misc/lib.h b/lib/misc/lib.h
index c14f437..79b36a3 100644
--- a/lib/misc/lib.h
+++ b/lib/misc/lib.h
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
  * 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 06bd31a..8f36ec7 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().
@@ -254,6 +254,4 @@ dm_bitset_t dm_bitset_parse_list_v1_02_129(const char *str, struct dm_pool *mem)
 }
 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 dd46b67..b09abdc 100644
--- a/libdm/ioctl/libdm-iface.c
+++ b/libdm/ioctl/libdm-iface.c
@@ -2176,7 +2176,7 @@ 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 ee12da2..08829c5 100644
--- a/libdm/libdm-deptree.c
+++ b/libdm/libdm-deptree.c
@@ -3811,7 +3811,7 @@ 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 420e3e1..066bcdf 100644
--- a/libdm/libdm-stats.c
+++ b/libdm/libdm-stats.c
@@ -5067,7 +5067,7 @@ 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,