diff --git a/mctr2/cli/Cli.cc b/mctr2/cli/Cli.cc
index d02422cd6805e85084e442c51f0dc92be9953e83..be80c31f1e87a948edea6b0f9e5e212ae51dd126 100644
--- a/mctr2/cli/Cli.cc
+++ b/mctr2/cli/Cli.cc
@@ -1157,7 +1157,7 @@ boolean Cli::conditionHolds(waitStateEnum askedState)
 
 int Cli::getHostIndex(const char* hostname)
 {
-  int hostname_len = strlen(hostname);
+  size_t hostname_len = strlen(hostname);
   int index, found = -1;
   for (index = 0; ; index++) {
     const mctr::host_struct *host =