diff --git a/src/include/switch_xml_config.h b/src/include/switch_xml_config.h
index 6e4317b4cf..935e3e8f5b 100644
--- a/src/include/switch_xml_config.h
+++ b/src/include/switch_xml_config.h
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ typedef struct {
 	char *validation_regex;			/*< Enforce validation using this regular expression */
 } switch_xml_config_string_options_t;
 
-extern switch_xml_config_string_options_t switch_config_string_strdup; 	/*< String options structure for strdup, no validation */
+SWITCH_DECLARE_DATA extern switch_xml_config_string_options_t switch_config_string_strdup; 	/*< String options structure for strdup, no validation */
 
 typedef struct {
 	switch_bool_t enforce_min;
diff --git a/src/switch_xml_config.c b/src/switch_xml_config.c
index 898933faa0..7eea0924d1 100644
--- a/src/switch_xml_config.c
+++ b/src/switch_xml_config.c
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 
 #include <switch.h>
 
-switch_xml_config_string_options_t switch_config_string_strdup = { NULL, 0, NULL };
+SWITCH_DECLARE_DATA switch_xml_config_string_options_t switch_config_string_strdup = { NULL, 0, NULL };
 
 SWITCH_DECLARE(switch_size_t) switch_event_import_xml(switch_xml_t xml, const char *keyname, const char *valuename, switch_event_t **event)
 {