diff --git a/include/CPstrings.h b/include/CPstrings.h
index e14b0268..1a0ef1c1 100644
--- a/include/CPstrings.h
+++ b/include/CPstrings.h
@@ -6,11 +6,13 @@
     #include <algorithm>
     #include <functional>
 
+#if !defined(NO_CPPFORMAT)
     #ifndef FMT_HEADER_ONLY
     #define FMT_HEADER_ONLY
     #endif
     #include "fmt/format.h" // For addition of the string formatting functions and macros from cppformat
     #undef FMT_HEADER_ONLY
+#endif
 
     #if !defined(__powerpc__)
     /// Copy string to wstring
@@ -43,11 +45,16 @@
         return lhs == rhs;
     }
 
+#if defined(NO_CPPFORMAT)
+    // Missing string formatting function, this old guy is needed for ancient gcc compilers on PowerPC for VxWorks
+    std::string format(const char* fmt, ...)
+#else
     // Missing std::string formatting function - provided by the cppformat library
     inline std::string format(const char *format, fmt::ArgList args) {
       return fmt::sprintf(format, args);
     }
     FMT_VARIADIC(std::string, format, const char *)
+#endif
 
     // Missing string split - like in Python
     std::vector<std::string> strsplit(const std::string &s, char del);
diff --git a/src/CPstrings.cpp b/src/CPstrings.cpp
index 9b0898ad..18f4129c 100644
--- a/src/CPstrings.cpp
+++ b/src/CPstrings.cpp
@@ -25,4 +25,22 @@ std::vector<std::string> strsplit(const std::string &s, char del)
         i1 = i2+1;
     }
     return v;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+#if defined(NO_CPPFORMAT)
+std::string format(const char* fmt, ...)
+{
+    const int size = 512;
+    struct deleter{ static void delarray(char* p) { delete[] p; } }; // to use delete[]
+    shared_ptr<char> buffer(new char[size], deleter::delarray); // I'd prefer unique_ptr, but it's only available since c++11
+    va_list vl;
+    va_start(vl,fmt);
+    int nsize = vsnprintf(buffer.get(),size,fmt,vl);
+    if(size<=nsize){//fail delete buffer and try again
+        buffer.reset(new char[++nsize], deleter::delarray);//+1 for /0
+        nsize = vsnprintf(buffer.get(),nsize,fmt,vl);
+    }
+    va_end(vl);
+    return buffer.get();
+}
+#endif