diff --git a/src/decode.h b/src/decode.h
index c4b686322c..b84f466e0a 100644
--- a/src/decode.h
+++ b/src/decode.h
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ typedef struct PacketEngineEvents_ {
 } PacketEngineEvents;
 
 typedef struct PktVar_ {
-    char *name;
+    const char *name;
     struct PktVar_ *next; /* right now just implement this as a list,
                            * in the long run we have thing of something
                            * faster. */
diff --git a/src/pkt-var.c b/src/pkt-var.c
index b3878bde04..dcc706959b 100644
--- a/src/pkt-var.c
+++ b/src/pkt-var.c
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ void PktVarUpdate(PktVar *pv, uint8_t *value, uint16_t size)
 /* get the pktvar with name 'name' from the pkt
  *
  * name is a normal string*/
-PktVar *PktVarGet(Packet *p, char *name)
+PktVar *PktVarGet(Packet *p, const char *name)
 {
     PktVar *pv = p->pktvar;
 
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ PktVar *PktVarGet(Packet *p, char *name)
 }
 
 /* add a pktvar to the pkt, or update it */
-void PktVarAdd(Packet *p, char *name, uint8_t *value, uint16_t size)
+void PktVarAdd(Packet *p, const char *name, uint8_t *value, uint16_t size)
 {
     //printf("Adding packet var \"%s\" with value(%" PRId32 ") \"%s\"\n", name, size, value);
 
diff --git a/src/pkt-var.h b/src/pkt-var.h
index 0ba8757213..613bd1d7e7 100644
--- a/src/pkt-var.h
+++ b/src/pkt-var.h
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@
 #ifndef __PKT_VAR_H__
 #define __PKT_VAR_H__
 
-void PktVarAdd(Packet *, char *, uint8_t *, uint16_t);
-PktVar *PktVarGet(Packet *, char *);
+void PktVarAdd(Packet *, const char *, uint8_t *, uint16_t);
+PktVar *PktVarGet(Packet *, const char *);
 void PktVarFree(PktVar *);
 void PktVarPrint(PktVar *);