diff --color -ru a/libcap/cap_text.c b/libcap/cap_text.c
--- a/libcap/cap_text.c	2021-02-05 06:52:17.000000000 +0100
+++ b/libcap/cap_text.c	2021-12-15 13:03:44.993774400 +0100
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 #define LIBCAP_PLEASE_INCLUDE_ARRAY
 #include "libcap.h"
 
-static char const *_cap_names[__CAP_BITS] = LIBCAP_CAP_NAMES;
+extern char const *_cap_names[__CAP_BITS];
 
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include <limits.h>
diff --color -ru a/libcap/_makenames.c b/libcap/_makenames.c
--- a/libcap/_makenames.c	2021-02-05 06:52:17.000000000 +0100
+++ b/libcap/_makenames.c	2021-12-15 12:47:07.921408357 +0100
@@ -66,17 +66,17 @@
 	   "#define __CAP_NAME_SIZE  %d\n"
 	   "\n"
 	   "#ifdef LIBCAP_PLEASE_INCLUDE_ARRAY\n"
-	   "#define LIBCAP_CAP_NAMES { \\\n", maxcaps, maxlength+1);
+	   "  char const *_cap_names[__CAP_BITS] = {\n", maxcaps, maxlength+1);
 
     for (i=0; i<maxcaps; ++i) {
 	if (pointers[i]) {
-	    printf("      /* %d */\t\"%s\", \\\n", i, pointers[i]);
+	    printf("      /* %d */\t\"%s\",\n", i, pointers[i]);
 	} else {
-	    printf("      /* %d */\tNULL,\t\t/* - presently unused */ \\\n", i);
+            printf("      /* %d */\tNULL,\t\t/* - presently unused */\n", i);
 	}
     }
 
-    printf("  }\n"
+    printf("  };\n"
 	   "#endif /* LIBCAP_PLEASE_INCLUDE_ARRAY */\n"
 	   "\n"
 	   "/* END OF FILE */\n");