diff -Naurp cpio-2.9/doc/cpio.texi cpio-2.9.oden/doc/cpio.texi
--- cpio-2.9/doc/cpio.texi	2007-06-28 10:59:24.000000000 +0200
+++ cpio-2.9.oden/doc/cpio.texi	2008-12-20 16:52:22.000000000 +0100
@@ -331,7 +331,8 @@ block size is 512 bytes.
 Set the I/O block size to @var{block-size} * 512 bytes.
 
 @item -c
-Use the old portable (ASCII) archive format.
+Identical to "-H newc", use the new (SVR4) portable format.
+If you wish the old portable (ASCII) archive format, use "-H odc" instead.
 
 @item -C @var{io-size}
 @itemx --io-size=@var{io-size}
diff -Naurp cpio-2.9/src/main.c cpio-2.9.oden/src/main.c
--- cpio-2.9/src/main.c	2007-06-28 12:46:41.000000000 +0200
+++ cpio-2.9.oden/src/main.c	2008-12-20 16:52:22.000000000 +0100
@@ -338,6 +338,7 @@ parse_opt (int key, char *arg, struct ar
     case 'c':		/* Use the old portable ASCII format.  */
       if (archive_format != arf_unknown)
 	error (0, EXIT_FAILURE, _("Archive format multiply defined"));
+#define SVR4_COMPAT
 #ifdef SVR4_COMPAT
       archive_format = arf_newascii; /* -H newc.  */
 #else