diff --git a/Lib/python/pyinit.swg b/Lib/python/pyinit.swg
index 670de409b..e6109b7bd 100644
--- a/Lib/python/pyinit.swg
+++ b/Lib/python/pyinit.swg
@@ -226,11 +226,11 @@ SWIG_Python_FixMethods(PyMethodDef *methods,
 		       swig_type_info **types_initial) {
   size_t i;
   for (i = 0; methods[i].ml_name; ++i) {
-    char *c = methods[i].ml_doc;
+    const char *c = methods[i].ml_doc;
     if (c && (c = strstr(c, "swig_ptr: "))) {
       int j;
       swig_const_info *ci = 0;
-      char *name = c + 10;
+      const char *name = c + 10;
       for (j = 0; const_table[j].type; ++j) {
 	if (strncmp(const_table[j].name, name, 
 		    strlen(const_table[j].name)) == 0) {