diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 7f06f20..9f81cb0 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -157,6 +157,10 @@
 	Solaris derivatives no longer need librt for clock_gettime()
 	Thanks to Andy Fiddaman to directing me to the patch.
 
+	LibreSSL does not have OPENSSL_INIT_new(). This function is now
+	guarded. Socat might build with LibreSSL.
+	Thanks to Orbea for reporting and helping.
+
 Building:
 	Failure during building documentation, e.g. due to missing Yodl
 	packages, now does not let the build process fail.
diff --git a/config.h.in b/config.h.in
index be3cee9..5cbdbbd 100644
--- a/config.h.in
+++ b/config.h.in
@@ -454,7 +454,10 @@
 #undef HAVE_OPENSSL_INIT_SSL
 
 /* Define if you have the SSL_library_init function */
-#undef HAVE_SSL_LIBRARY_INIT
+#undef HAVE_SSL_library_init
+
+/* Define if you have the OPENSSL_INIT_new function */
+#undef HAVE_OPENSSL_INIT_new
 
 /* Define if you have the SSLv2 client and server method functions. not in new openssl */
 #undef HAVE_SSLv2_client_method
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c5aabd2..7c7b1f1 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -633,7 +633,7 @@
   fi
 fi
 
-AC_CHECK_FUNCS(OPENSSL_init_ssl SSL_library_init)
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS(OPENSSL_init_ssl SSL_library_init OPENSSL_INIT_new)
 
 #; sc_cv_have_SSL_library_init='yes'; AC_DEFINE(HAVE_SSL_library_init)
 #if test -n "$WITH_OPENSSL"; then
diff --git a/sslcls.c b/sslcls.c
index ce8e9c6..0bf430d 100644
--- a/sslcls.c
+++ b/sslcls.c
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 }
 #endif
 
-#if !HAVE_OPENSSL_INIT_SSL
+#if !(defined(HAVE_OPENSSL_INIT_SSL) && defined(HAVE_OPENSSL_INIT_new))
 void sycSSL_load_error_strings(void) {
    Debug("SSL_load_error_strings()");
    SSL_load_error_strings();
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 }
 #endif
 
-#if !HAVE_OPENSSL_INIT_SSL
+#if HAVE_SSL_library_init
 int sycSSL_library_init(void) {
    int result;
    Debug("SSL_library_init()");
diff --git a/xio-openssl.c b/xio-openssl.c
index 8b78cf6..e7931b4 100644
--- a/xio-openssl.c
+++ b/xio-openssl.c
@@ -962,7 +962,7 @@
    openssl_delete_cert_info();
 
    /* OpenSSL preparation */
-#if HAVE_OPENSSL_INIT_SSL
+#if defined(HAVE_OPENSSL_INIT_SSL) && defined(HAVE_OPENSSL_INIT_new)
    {
       uint64_t opts = 0;
       OPENSSL_INIT_SETTINGS *settings;
@@ -973,12 +973,14 @@
       sycOPENSSL_init_ssl(opts, settings);
    }
 #else
+#  if defined(HAVE_SSL_library_init)
    sycSSL_library_init();
+#  endif
    OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms();
    OpenSSL_add_all_ciphers();
    OpenSSL_add_all_digests();
    sycSSL_load_error_strings();
-#endif
+#endif /* defined(HAVE_OPENSSL_INIT_SSL) && defined(HAVE OPENSSL_INIT_new) */
 
    /*! actions_to_seed_PRNG();*/