diff --git a/globals.c b/globals.c
index e351b03..20b4308 100644
--- a/globals.c
+++ b/globals.c
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
  *
  * The variable holding the libxml free() implementation
  */
-xmlFreeFunc xmlFree = (xmlFreeFunc) free;
+xmlFreeFunc xmlFree = free;
 /**
  * xmlMalloc:
  * @size:  the size requested in bytes
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@
  *
  * Returns a pointer to the newly allocated block or NULL in case of error
  */
-xmlMallocFunc xmlMalloc = (xmlMallocFunc) malloc;
+xmlMallocFunc xmlMalloc = malloc;
 /**
  * xmlMallocAtomic:
  * @size:  the size requested in bytes
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@
  *
  * Returns a pointer to the newly allocated block or NULL in case of error
  */
-xmlMallocFunc xmlMallocAtomic = (xmlMallocFunc) malloc;
+xmlMallocFunc xmlMallocAtomic = malloc;
 /**
  * xmlRealloc:
  * @mem: an already allocated block of memory
@@ -122,7 +122,19 @@
  *
  * Returns a pointer to the newly reallocated block or NULL in case of error
  */
-xmlReallocFunc xmlRealloc = (xmlReallocFunc) realloc;
+xmlReallocFunc xmlRealloc = realloc;
+/**
+ * xmlPosixStrdup
+ * @cur:  the input char *
+ *
+ * a strdup implementation with a type signature matching POSIX
+ *
+ * Returns a new xmlChar * or NULL
+ */
+static char *
+xmlPosixStrdup(const char *cur) {
+    return((char*) xmlCharStrdup(cur));
+}
 /**
  * xmlMemStrdup:
  * @str: a zero terminated string
@@ -131,7 +143,7 @@
  *
  * Returns the copy of the string or NULL in case of error
  */
-xmlStrdupFunc xmlMemStrdup = (xmlStrdupFunc) xmlStrdup;
+xmlStrdupFunc xmlMemStrdup = xmlPosixStrdup;
 #endif /* DEBUG_MEMORY_LOCATION || DEBUG_MEMORY */
 
 #include <libxml/threads.h>