diff --git a/HISTORY b/HISTORY
index d0149ebb..95580c3a 100644
--- a/HISTORY
+++ b/HISTORY
@@ -397,3 +397,5 @@ Video Disk Recorder Revision History
 - SVDRP can now immediately reuse the same port if VDR is restarted.
 - SVDRP now has a timeout after which the connection is automatically closed
   (default is 300 seconds, can be changed in "Setup").
+- The compile time switch VFAT can be used to make VDR avoid the ':' character
+  in file names (VFAT can't handle them). Do 'make VFAT=1' to enable this.
diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index dd2305b9..5c445085 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -46,6 +46,13 @@ interface. These modes are useful when testing new menus if you
 only have a remote connection to the VDR (which, in my case, is
 located in the living room and has neither a monitor nor a keyboard).
 
+If your video directory will be on a VFAT partition, add the compile
+time switch
+
+  VFAT=1
+
+to the 'make' command.
+
 When running, the 'vdr' program writes status information into the
 system log file (/var/log/messages). You may want to watch these
 messages (tail -f /var/log/mesages) to see if there are any problems.
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4505c7b5..badd34a6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # See the main source file 'vdr.c' for copyright information and
 # how to reach the author.
 #
-# $Id: Makefile 1.18 2001/01/13 12:26:43 kls Exp $
+# $Id: Makefile 1.19 2001/02/18 16:12:14 kls Exp $
 
 DVBDIR   = ../DVB
 
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ ifdef DEBUG_OSD
 DEFINES += -DDEBUG_OSD
 endif
 
+ifdef VFAT
+# for people who want their video directory on a VFAT partition
+DEFINES += -DVFAT
+endif
+
 all: vdr
 font: genfontfile fontfix.c fontosd.c
 	@echo "font files created."
diff --git a/recording.c b/recording.c
index 5bc66b76..d6e5a333 100644
--- a/recording.c
+++ b/recording.c
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * See the main source file 'vdr.c' for copyright information and
  * how to reach the author.
  *
- * $Id: recording.c 1.27 2001/02/11 14:53:44 kls Exp $
+ * $Id: recording.c 1.28 2001/02/18 16:14:05 kls Exp $
  */
 
 #define _GNU_SOURCE
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@
 
 #define RECEXT       ".rec"
 #define DELEXT       ".del"
+#ifdef VFAT
+#define DATAFORMAT   "%4d-%02d-%02d.%02d.%02d.%02d.%02d" RECEXT
+#else
 #define DATAFORMAT   "%4d-%02d-%02d.%02d:%02d.%02d.%02d" RECEXT
+#endif
 #define NAMEFORMAT   "%s/%s/" DATAFORMAT
 
 #define RESUMEFILESUFFIX  "/resume.vdr"