diff --git a/src/util/bptr.h b/src/util/bptr.h
index 4a4288ab..6e87d685 100644
--- a/src/util/bptr.h
+++ b/src/util/bptr.h
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@
 #ifndef UPX_BPTR_H__
 #define UPX_BPTR_H__ 1
 
+#if WITH_SPAN >= 2
 #error "this file is deprecated, please use xspan.h instead"
+#endif
 
 /*************************************************************************
 // BoundedPtr