diff --git a/ms/applink.c b/ms/applink.c
index 1d8ecf79e7..460ee7339e 100644
--- a/ms/applink.c
+++ b/ms/applink.c
@@ -34,9 +34,18 @@
 #define APPLINK_MAX     22      /* always same as last macro */
 
 #ifndef APPMACROS_ONLY
+
+/*
+ * Normally, do not define APPLINK_NO_INCLUDES.  Define it if you are using
+ * symbol preprocessing and do not want the preprocessing to affect the
+ * following included header files.  You will need to put these
+ * include lines somewhere in the file that is including applink.c.
+ */
+#ifndef APPLINK_NO_INCLUDES
 # include <stdio.h>
 # include <io.h>
 # include <fcntl.h>
+#endif
 
 # ifdef __BORLANDC__
    /* _lseek in <io.h> is a function-like macro so we can't take its address */