diff --git a/soltools/cpp/_getopt.c b/soltools/cpp/_getopt.c
index a5cd4389558b..8f9181ccad52 100644
--- a/soltools/cpp/_getopt.c
+++ b/soltools/cpp/_getopt.c
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 
 static int opterr = 1;
 int optind = 1;
-int optopt;
+static int optopt;
 char *optarg;
 
 int