diff --git a/lib/context.c b/lib/context.c
index 47976fbb..6125ee48 100644
--- a/lib/context.c
+++ b/lib/context.c
@@ -643,7 +643,11 @@ lws_create_context(struct lws_context_creation_info *info)
 	if (info->max_http_header_data)
 		context->max_http_header_data = info->max_http_header_data;
 	else
-		context->max_http_header_data = LWS_DEF_HEADER_LEN;
+		if (info->max_http_header_data2)
+			context->max_http_header_data =
+					info->max_http_header_data2;
+		else
+			context->max_http_header_data = LWS_DEF_HEADER_LEN;
 	if (info->max_http_header_pool)
 		context->max_http_header_pool = info->max_http_header_pool;
 	else
diff --git a/lib/libwebsockets.h b/lib/libwebsockets.h
index f71ab79a..341d4b18 100644
--- a/lib/libwebsockets.h
+++ b/lib/libwebsockets.h
@@ -1501,6 +1501,10 @@ struct lws_http_mount {
  *		defines the max chunk of file that can be sent at once.
  *		At the risk of lws having to buffer failed large sends, it
  *		can be increased to, eg, 128KiB to improve throughput.
+ * @max_http_header_data2 CONTEXT: if @max_http_header_data is 0 and this
+ *		is nonzero, this will be used in place of the default.  It's
+ *		like this for compatibility with the original short version,
+ *		this is unsigned int length.
  */
 
 struct lws_context_creation_info {
@@ -1544,6 +1548,7 @@ struct lws_context_creation_info {
 	const struct lws_http_mount *mounts;		/* VH */
 	const char *server_string;			/* context */
 	unsigned int pt_serv_buf_size;			/* context */
+	unsigned int max_http_header_data2;		/* context */
 
 	/* Add new things just above here ---^
 	 * This is part of the ABI, don't needlessly break compatibility
diff --git a/lib/parsers.c b/lib/parsers.c
index 0dea47f1..dead8e9f 100644
--- a/lib/parsers.c
+++ b/lib/parsers.c
@@ -460,7 +460,7 @@ char *lws_hdr_simple_ptr(struct lws *wsi, enum lws_token_indexes h)
 int LWS_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
 lws_pos_in_bounds(struct lws *wsi)
 {
-	if (wsi->u.hdr.ah->pos < wsi->context->max_http_header_data)
+	if (wsi->u.hdr.ah->pos < (unsigned int)wsi->context->max_http_header_data)
 		return 0;
 
 	if (wsi->u.hdr.ah->pos == wsi->context->max_http_header_data) {
diff --git a/lib/private-libwebsockets.h b/lib/private-libwebsockets.h
index 8450c43c..c8990c08 100644
--- a/lib/private-libwebsockets.h
+++ b/lib/private-libwebsockets.h
@@ -520,7 +520,7 @@ struct lws_fd_hashtable {
  */
 
 struct lws_fragments {
-	unsigned short offset;
+	unsigned int offset;
 	unsigned short len;
 	unsigned char nfrag; /* which ah->frag[] continues this content, or 0 */
 };
@@ -548,12 +548,12 @@ struct allocated_headers {
 	unsigned char rx[2048];
 	unsigned int rxpos;
 	unsigned int rxlen;
+	unsigned int pos;
 
 #ifndef LWS_NO_CLIENT
 	char initial_handshake_hash_base64[30];
 #endif
 
-	unsigned short pos;
 	unsigned char in_use;
 	unsigned char nfrag;
 };
@@ -742,6 +742,7 @@ struct lws_context {
 	unsigned int fd_limit_per_thread;
 	unsigned int timeout_secs;
 	unsigned int pt_serv_buf_size;
+	int max_http_header_data;
 
 	/*
 	 * set to the Thread ID that's doing the service loop just before entry
@@ -752,7 +753,6 @@ struct lws_context {
 	volatile int service_tid;
 	int service_tid_detected;
 
-	short max_http_header_data;
 	short max_http_header_pool;
 	short count_threads;
 	short plugin_protocol_count;
@@ -906,7 +906,7 @@ struct _lws_header_related {
 	enum uri_path_states ups;
 	enum uri_esc_states ues;
 	short lextable_pos;
-	unsigned short current_token_limit;
+	unsigned int current_token_limit;
 #ifndef LWS_NO_CLIENT
 	unsigned short c_port;
 #endif