diff --git a/headers/cpp/stl_alloc.h b/headers/cpp/stl_alloc.h
index b44f5f305a..206fd0fa2e 100644
--- a/headers/cpp/stl_alloc.h
+++ b/headers/cpp/stl_alloc.h
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@
 #  define __USE_MALLOC
 #endif
 
-
 // This implements some standard node allocators.  These are
 // NOT the same as the allocators in the C++ draft standard or in
 // in the original STL.  They do not encapsulate different pointer
@@ -329,11 +328,7 @@ private:
   // instead of enum { x = N }, but few compilers accept the former.
 # ifndef __SUNPRO_CC
     enum {_ALIGN = 8};
-#  if (defined(__BEOS__) || defined(__HAIKU__))
-    enum {_MAX_BYTES = 0};
-#  else
     enum {_MAX_BYTES = 128};
-#  endif
     enum {_NFREELISTS = _MAX_BYTES/_ALIGN};
 # endif
   static size_t
@@ -710,11 +705,7 @@ template <bool __threads, int __inst>
 __default_alloc_template<__threads, __inst>::_Obj* __VOLATILE
 __default_alloc_template<__threads, __inst> ::_S_free_list[
     _NFREELISTS
-#if (defined(__BEOS__) || defined(__HAIKU__))
-] = { };
-#else
 ] = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, };
-#endif
 // The 16 zeros are necessary to make version 4.1 of the SunPro
 // compiler happy.  Otherwise it appears to allocate too little
 // space for the array.
diff --git a/headers/cpp/stl_config.h b/headers/cpp/stl_config.h
index 2e29bca27f..5c619adf1a 100644
--- a/headers/cpp/stl_config.h
+++ b/headers/cpp/stl_config.h
@@ -87,6 +87,19 @@
 // * _NOTHREADS: if defined, don't use any multithreading support.
 
 
+#  define __USE_MALLOC
+	// BeOS used to trick the STL allocator (in stl_alloc.h) into falling back
+	// to malloc/free-allocation by setting MAX_BYTES to 0.
+	// By requesting to use those directly, we should get the same allocator,
+	// but will avoid the '... creates array of size 0'-warnings that are
+	// produced by 'gcc -strict' (for instance when building ICU).
+	// Alternatively, we could define _PTHREADS here and use the real STL
+	// allocator with posix threads enabled (however, this would have to be
+	// tested first, and most probably requires a rebuild of gcc2, too,
+	// in order to make sure that no code existing in libstdc++.r4.so is
+	// still using the old allocator).
+
+
 // Other macros defined by this file:
 
 // * bool, true, and false, if __STL_NO_BOOL is defined.