diff --git a/src/util/atrb.h b/src/util/atrb.h
index b5bb397..d397f77 100644
--- a/src/util/atrb.h
+++ b/src/util/atrb.h
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #define atrb_pure         __attribute__((pure))
 #define atrb_const        __attribute__((const))
 #define atrb_noreturn     __attribute__((noreturn))
+#define atrb_malloc       __attribute__((malloc))
 #define atrb_format(...)  __attribute__((format(__VA_ARGS__)))
 #define atrb_nonnull(...) __attribute__((nonnull(__VA_ARGS__)))
 #elif defined(_MSC_VER)
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@
 #define atrb_pure
 #define atrb_const
 #define atrb_noreturn
+#define atrb_malloc
 #define atrb_format()
 #define atrb_nonnull()
 #endif
diff --git a/src/util/conf.c b/src/util/conf.c
index cf48d3b..56631b5 100644
--- a/src/util/conf.c
+++ b/src/util/conf.c
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
-#include <sys/cdefs.h>
+
+#include "atrb.h"
 
 int conf_procbuf(char const* restrict buf, size_t buflen, struct conf_entry const* opts, size_t optc) {
 	enum {
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ int conf_procbuf(char const* restrict buf, size_t buflen, struct conf_entry cons
 }
 
 /* utility function for conf_getpat to concatenate 3 strings, where we already know the size */
-__nonnull((1, 3)) static inline char* conf_getpat_concat(char const* restrict s1, char const* restrict s2, char const* restrict s3, size_t s1len, size_t s2len, size_t s3len) {
+atrb_nonnull(1, 3) static inline char* conf_getpat_concat(char const* restrict s1, char const* restrict s2, char const* restrict s3, size_t s1len, size_t s2len, size_t s3len) {
 	char *buf, *ptr;
 
 	// allocate enough data for all three to the buffer
diff --git a/src/util/conf.h b/src/util/conf.h
index 9f2b3ab..cc52853 100644
--- a/src/util/conf.h
+++ b/src/util/conf.h
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@
 
 #include <stddef.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
-#include <sys/cdefs.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+#include "atrb.h"
 
 /* defines the primitive types available in the config file */
 enum config_primitive {
@@ -43,4 +45,4 @@ int conf_procbuf(char const*, size_t, struct conf_entry const*, size_t);
  * - windows: reads %APPDATA%, if empty %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming is used, if both are empty NULL is returned.
  * - osx:     reads $HOME, uses $HOME/Library/Application Support, if $HOME is empty NULL is returned.
  * !! A malloc'd null-terminated string is returned !! */
-__attribute_malloc__ __attribute_nonnull__((1)) char* conf_getpat(char const*);
+atrb_malloc atrb_nonnull(1) char* conf_getpat(char const*);