diff --git a/include/osgDB/FileNameUtils b/include/osgDB/FileNameUtils
index ed1e552b4..da9b11424 100644
--- a/include/osgDB/FileNameUtils
+++ b/include/osgDB/FileNameUtils
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
+#include <string.h>
 
 namespace osgDB {
 
@@ -131,6 +132,11 @@ struct FileNameComparator
     }
 };
 
+
+void stringcopy(char* dest, const char* src, size_t length);
+
+#define stringcopyfixedsize(DEST, SRC) stringcopy(DEST, SRC, sizeof(DEST));
+
 }
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/osgDB/FileNameUtils.cpp b/src/osgDB/FileNameUtils.cpp
index f67e527be..c0410ade1 100644
--- a/src/osgDB/FileNameUtils.cpp
+++ b/src/osgDB/FileNameUtils.cpp
@@ -487,6 +487,14 @@ std::string osgDB::getPathRelative(const std::string& from, const std::string& t
     return res;
 }
 
+void osgDB::stringcopy(char* dest, const char* src, size_t length)
+{
+    strncpy(dest, src, length-1);
+    dest[length-1] = '\0';
+    OSG_NOTICE<<"osgDB::stringcopy(["<<dest<<"], src=["<<src<<"], "<<length<<")"<<std::endl;
+}
+
+
 //using namespace osgDB;
 //std::string testA = getPathRelative("C:\\a\\b", "C:\\a/b/d/f");       // d/f
 //std::string testB = getPathRelative("C:\\a\\d", "C:\\a/b/d/f");       // ../b/d/f