diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 66921aa1..cde1ed9b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ version develop
   installation possible.
 + Fix a bug where bytes were copied in the wrong order on big endian
   architectures. Fixes test failures on s390x.
++ Enable building on GNU/Hurd platforms.
 
 version 1.7.1
 -----------------
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7491870d..55c89496 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
                  sys.platform.startswith("netbsd"))
 SYSTEM_IS_UNIX = (sys.platform.startswith("linux") or
                   sys.platform.startswith("darwin") or
+                  sys.platform.startswith("gnu") or
                   SYSTEM_IS_BSD)
 SYSTEM_IS_WINDOWS = sys.platform.startswith("win")