diff --git a/src/libcamera/include/utils.h b/src/libcamera/include/utils.h
index 73fa2e69b029..1b2a62c0fda7 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/include/utils.h
+++ b/src/libcamera/include/utils.h
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ namespace libcamera {
 
 namespace utils {
 
+const char *basename(const char *path);
+
 /* C++11 doesn't provide std::make_unique */
 template<typename T, typename... Args>
 std::unique_ptr<T> make_unique(Args&&... args)
diff --git a/src/libcamera/log.cpp b/src/libcamera/log.cpp
index 26ebf410a7a9..eb444c31857d 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/log.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/log.cpp
@@ -438,7 +438,7 @@ void LogMessage::init(const char *fileName, unsigned int line)
 
 	msgStream_ << " " << log_severity_name(severity_);
 	msgStream_ << " " << category_.name();
-	msgStream_ << " " << basename(fileName) << ":" << line << " ";
+	msgStream_ << " " << utils::basename(fileName) << ":" << line << " ";
 }
 
 LogMessage::~LogMessage()
diff --git a/src/libcamera/meson.build b/src/libcamera/meson.build
index 8384cd0af451..863cb60d4b90 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/meson.build
+++ b/src/libcamera/meson.build
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ libcamera_sources = files([
     'signal.cpp',
     'stream.cpp',
     'timer.cpp',
+    'utils.cpp',
     'v4l2_device.cpp',
     'v4l2_subdevice.cpp',
 ])
diff --git a/src/libcamera/utils.cpp b/src/libcamera/utils.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..70936e36c5d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libcamera/utils.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later */
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2019, Google Inc.
+ *
+ * utils.cpp - Miscellaneous utility functions
+ */
+
+#include <string.h>
+
+#include "utils.h"
+
+/**
+ * \file utils.h
+ * \brief Miscellaneous utility functions
+ */
+
+namespace libcamera {
+
+namespace utils {
+
+/**
+ * \def ARRAY_SIZE(array)
+ * \brief Determine the number of elemnents in the static array.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * \brief Strip the directory prefix from the path
+ *
+ * basename is implemented differently across different toolchains.
+ * Ensure consistency by providing our own implementation.
+ */
+const char *basename(const char *path)
+{
+       const char *base = strrchr(path, '/');
+       return base ? base + 1 : path;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * \fn libcamera::utils::make_unique(Args &&... args)
+ * \brief Construct an object and return a std::unique ptr to it
+ */
+
+} /* namespace utils */
+
+} /* namespace libcamera */