diff --git a/examples/client_test.cpp b/examples/client_test.cpp
index 7aa9932b4..fc77c9e85 100644
--- a/examples/client_test.cpp
+++ b/examples/client_test.cpp
@@ -682,13 +682,10 @@ std::vector<std::string> list_dir(std::string path
 		return ret;
 	}
 
-	struct dirent de;
-	dirent* dummy;
-	while (readdir_r(handle, &de, &dummy) == 0)
+	struct dirent* de;
+	while ((de = readdir(handle)))
 	{
-		if (dummy == nullptr) break;
-
-		lt::string_view p(de.d_name);
+		lt::string_view p(de->d_name);
 		if (filter_fun(p))
 			ret.push_back(p.to_string());
 	}
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/file.hpp b/include/libtorrent/file.hpp
index d0714259a..e171b0f3a 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/file.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/file.hpp
@@ -109,11 +109,8 @@ namespace libtorrent {
 		WIN32_FIND_DATAW m_fd;
 #else
 		DIR* m_handle;
-		// the dirent struct contains a zero-sized
-		// array at the end, it will end up referring
-		// to the m_name field
-		struct dirent m_dirent;
-		char m_name[TORRENT_MAX_PATH + 1]; // +1 to make room for terminating 0
+		ino_t m_inode;
+		std::string m_name;
 #endif
 		bool m_done;
 	};
diff --git a/src/file.cpp b/src/file.cpp
index 5bd1ebae4..e5d8b32a8 100644
--- a/src/file.cpp
+++ b/src/file.cpp
@@ -363,9 +363,6 @@ static_assert(!(open_mode::sparse & open_mode::attribute_mask), "internal flags
 		}
 #else
 
-		std::memset(&m_dirent, 0, sizeof(dirent));
-		m_name[0] = 0;
-
 		m_handle = ::opendir(f.c_str());
 		if (m_handle == nullptr)
 		{
@@ -390,11 +387,7 @@ static_assert(!(open_mode::sparse & open_mode::attribute_mask), "internal flags
 
 	std::uint64_t directory::inode() const
 	{
-#ifdef TORRENT_WINDOWS
 		return m_inode;
-#else
-		return m_dirent.d_ino;
-#endif
 	}
 
 	std::string directory::file() const
@@ -402,7 +395,7 @@ static_assert(!(open_mode::sparse & open_mode::attribute_mask), "internal flags
 #ifdef TORRENT_WINDOWS
 		return convert_from_native_path(m_fd.cFileName);
 #else
-		return convert_from_native(m_dirent.d_name);
+		return convert_from_native(m_name);
 #endif
 	}
 
@@ -419,13 +412,18 @@ static_assert(!(open_mode::sparse & open_mode::attribute_mask), "internal flags
 		}
 		++m_inode;
 #else
-		dirent* dummy;
-		if (readdir_r(m_handle, &m_dirent, &dummy) != 0)
+		struct dirent* de;
+		errno = 0;
+		if ((de = ::readdir(m_handle)))
 		{
-			ec.assign(errno, system_category());
+			m_inode = de->d_ino;
+			m_name = de->d_name;
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			if (errno) ec.assign(errno, system_category());
 			m_done = true;
 		}
-		if (dummy == nullptr) m_done = true;
 #endif
 	}