diff --git a/polymer/eduke32/build/include/common.h b/polymer/eduke32/build/include/common.h
index 742c89a03..76757a900 100644
--- a/polymer/eduke32/build/include/common.h
+++ b/polymer/eduke32/build/include/common.h
@@ -60,4 +60,6 @@ int32_t fnlist_getnames(fnlist_t *fnl, const char *dirname, const char *pattern,
 void G_LoadGroupsInDir(const char *dirname);
 void G_DoAutoload(const char *dirname);
 
+char *dup_filename(const char *fn);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/polymer/eduke32/source/common.c b/polymer/eduke32/source/common.c
index 651032f5e..eecd4f7f6 100644
--- a/polymer/eduke32/source/common.c
+++ b/polymer/eduke32/source/common.c
@@ -167,3 +167,13 @@ void G_DoAutoload(const char *dirname)
     Bsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "autoload/%s", dirname);
     G_LoadGroupsInDir(buf);
 }
+
+////
+
+// returns a buffer of size BMAX_PATH
+char *dup_filename(const char *fn)
+{
+    char *buf = Bmalloc(BMAX_PATH);
+
+    return Bstrncpyz(buf, fn, BMAX_PATH);
+}