diff --git a/base/file_utils.cc b/base/file_utils.cc
index e4f37228..14ae277a 100644
--- a/base/file_utils.cc
+++ b/base/file_utils.cc
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <cstdlib>
 
 //----------------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -150,9 +151,9 @@ file_utils::zero_superblock(std::string const &path)
 	unsigned const SUPERBLOCK_SIZE = 4096;
 	file_descriptor fd = open_block_file(path, SUPERBLOCK_SIZE, true, true);
 
-	buffer = reinterpret_cast<char *>(aligned_alloc(SUPERBLOCK_SIZE, SUPERBLOCK_SIZE));
-	if (!buffer)
-        	throw runtime_error("out of memory");
+	if (posix_memalign(reinterpret_cast<void**>(&buffer), SUPERBLOCK_SIZE, SUPERBLOCK_SIZE) != 0) {
+		throw runtime_error("out of memory");
+	}
 
 	memset(buffer, 0, SUPERBLOCK_SIZE);
 	if (::write(fd.fd_, buffer, SUPERBLOCK_SIZE) != SUPERBLOCK_SIZE)