diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index dbe56b4b..bd4a8eca 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -13,6 +13,12 @@ CFLAGS += -Iinclude
 CFLAGS += -I/usr/local/include
 CFLAGS += -DI3_VERSION=\"${GIT_VERSION}\"
 
+ifeq ($(shell pkg-config --exact-version=0.3.3 xcb-keysyms && echo 1),1)
+# xcb-keysyms fixed API from 0.3.3 to 0.3.4, so for some months, we will
+# have this here. Distributions should upgrade their libxcb in the meantime.
+CFLAGS += -DOLD_XCB_KEYSYMS_API
+endif
+
 LDFLAGS += -lm
 LDFLAGS += -lxcb-event
 LDFLAGS += -lxcb-property
diff --git a/src/xcb.c b/src/xcb.c
index 15f977dc..0daf4b42 100644
--- a/src/xcb.c
+++ b/src/xcb.c
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ void xcb_get_numlock_mask(xcb_connection_t *conn) {
         xcb_key_symbols_t *keysyms;
         xcb_get_modifier_mapping_cookie_t cookie;
         xcb_get_modifier_mapping_reply_t *reply;
-        xcb_keycode_t *modmap, numlock;
+        xcb_keycode_t *modmap;
         int mask, i;
         const int masks[8] = { XCB_MOD_MASK_SHIFT,
                                XCB_MOD_MASK_LOCK,
@@ -261,7 +261,13 @@ void xcb_get_numlock_mask(xcb_connection_t *conn) {
         modmap = xcb_get_modifier_mapping_keycodes(reply);
 
         /* Get the keycode for numlock */
-        numlock = xcb_key_symbols_get_keycode(keysyms, XCB_NUM_LOCK);
+#ifdef OLD_XCB_KEYSYMS_API
+        xcb_keysym_t numlock = xcb_key_symbols_get_keycode(keysyms, XCB_NUM_LOCK);
+#else
+        /* For now, we only use the first keysymbol. */
+        xcb_keysym_t *numlock_syms = xcb_key_symbols_get_keycode(keysyms, XCB_NUM_LOCK);
+        xcb_keysym_t numlock = *numlock_syms;
+#endif
 
         /* Check all modifiers (Mod1-Mod5, Shift, Control, Lock) */
         for (mask = 0; mask < sizeof(masks); mask++)