diff --git a/src/lisp/writer.cpp b/src/lisp/writer.cpp
index 4670f4d31..656ccf267 100644
--- a/src/lisp/writer.cpp
+++ b/src/lisp/writer.cpp
@@ -35,7 +35,15 @@ namespace lisp
             : m_indent_depth(0)
     {
         m_owner = true;
+#ifdef WIN32
+	// With mingw, the files are written dos style (crlf), but
+	// these files can't be read with the lexer here. So we have
+	// to force the file to be written as binary for windows.
+	printf("Setting binary");
+        m_out = new std::ofstream(filename.c_str(),::std::ios_base::binary);
+#else
         m_out = new std::ofstream(filename.c_str());
+#endif
         if(!m_out->good())
         {
             char msg[MAX_ERROR_MESSAGE_LENGTH];