diff --git a/coreutils/Config.in b/coreutils/Config.in
index 20b5955d4..6598a8d9c 100644
--- a/coreutils/Config.in
+++ b/coreutils/Config.in
@@ -704,6 +704,13 @@ config CONFIG_WC
 	  wc is used to print the number of bytes, words, and lines,
 	  in specified files.
 
+config CONFIG_FEATURE_WC_LARGE
+	bool "Support very large files in wc"
+	default n
+	depends on CONFIG_WC
+	help
+	  Use "unsigned long long" in wc for count variables
+
 config CONFIG_WHO
 	bool "who"
 	default n
diff --git a/coreutils/wc.c b/coreutils/wc.c
index 78a5105da..6ddac4dec 100644
--- a/coreutils/wc.c
+++ b/coreutils/wc.c
@@ -55,10 +55,13 @@
 #define isspace_given_isprint(c) ((c) == ' ')
 #endif
 
-//#define COUNT_T unsigned long long
-//#define COUNT_FMT "llu"
+#if ENABLE_FEATURE_WC_LARGE
+#define COUNT_T unsigned long long
+#define COUNT_FMT "llu"
+#else
 #define COUNT_T unsigned
 #define COUNT_FMT "u"
+#endif
 
 enum {
 	WC_LINES	= 0,
@@ -82,7 +85,7 @@ int wc_main(int argc, char **argv)
 	int c;
 	char status = EXIT_SUCCESS;
 	char in_word;
-	char print_type;
+	unsigned print_type;
 
 	print_type = bb_getopt_ulflags(argc, argv, "lwcL");
 
@@ -115,6 +118,8 @@ int wc_main(int argc, char **argv)
 		in_word = 0;
 
 		do {
+			/* Our -w doesn't match GNU wc exactly... oh well */
+
 			++counts[WC_CHARS];
 			c = getc(fp);
 			if (isprint(c)) {