diff --git a/BaseLib/FileTools.cpp b/BaseLib/FileTools.cpp
index a21b7d8d457003499c8213a64729ed0bd2b61be4..35018226d34a4a853ccbf50ff0378cea16362a41 100644
--- a/BaseLib/FileTools.cpp
+++ b/BaseLib/FileTools.cpp
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ std::string extractPath(std::string const& pathname)
         return "";
     return pathname.substr(0, pos + 1);
 }
-const char * pathSeparator =
+static const char * pathSeparator =
 #ifdef _WIN32
                             "\\";
 #else