diff --git a/src/lauxlib.h b/src/lauxlib.h
index 1ca0d74f..c9e66cc5 100644
--- a/src/lauxlib.h
+++ b/src/lauxlib.h
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ LUALIB_API void (luaL_setfuncs) (lua_State *L, const luaL_Reg *l, int nup);
 LUALIB_API void (luaL_pushmodule) (lua_State *L, const char *modname,
 				   int sizehint);
 LUALIB_API void *(luaL_testudata) (lua_State *L, int ud, const char *tname);
-
+LUALIB_API void (luaL_setmetatable) (lua_State *L, const char *tname);
 
 /*
 ** ===============================================================
diff --git a/src/lib_aux.c b/src/lib_aux.c
index c40565c3..587a55a4 100644
--- a/src/lib_aux.c
+++ b/src/lib_aux.c
@@ -175,6 +175,12 @@ LUALIB_API const char *luaL_gsub(lua_State *L, const char *s,
   return lua_tostring(L, -1);
 }
 
+LUALIB_API void luaL_setmetatable(lua_State *L, const char *tname)
+{
+  luaL_getmetatable(L, tname);
+  lua_setmetatable(L, -2);
+}
+
 /* -- Buffer handling ----------------------------------------------------- */
 
 #define bufflen(B)	((size_t)((B)->p - (B)->buffer))