diff --git a/attr.c b/attr.c
index 4ef85d668b..39ce0eb95e 100644
--- a/attr.c
+++ b/attr.c
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ static void report_invalid_attr(const char *name, size_t len,
  * dictionary.  If no entry is found, create a new attribute and store it in
  * the dictionary.
  */
-static const struct git_attr *git_attr_internal(const char *name, int namelen)
+static const struct git_attr *git_attr_internal(const char *name, size_t namelen)
 {
 	struct git_attr *a;