diff --git a/examples/zran.c b/examples/zran.c
index 1ffba7f..32c9368 100644
--- a/examples/zran.c
+++ b/examples/zran.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /* zran.c -- example of deflate stream indexing and random access
  * Copyright (C) 2005, 2012, 2018, 2023 Mark Adler
  * For conditions of distribution and use, see copyright notice in zlib.h
- * Version 1.3  18 Feb 2023  Mark Adler */
+ * Version 1.4  13 Apr 2023  Mark Adler */
 
 /* Version History:
  1.0  29 May 2005  First version
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
                    Support a size_t size when extracting (was an int)
                    Do a binary search over the index for an access point
                    Expose the access point type to enable save and load
+ 1.4  13 Apr 2023  Add a NOPRIME define to not use inflatePrime()
  */
 
 // Illustrate the use of Z_BLOCK, inflatePrime(), and inflateSetDictionary()
@@ -237,6 +238,94 @@
     return index->have;
 }
 
+#ifdef NOPRIME
+// Support zlib versions before 1.2.3 (July 2005), or incomplete zlib clones
+// that do not have inflatePrime().
+
+#  define INFLATEPRIME inflatePreface
+
+// Append the low bits bits of value to in[] at bit position *have, updating
+// *have. value must be zero above its low bits bits. bits must be positive.
+// This assumes that any bits above the *have bits in the last byte are zeros.
+// That assumption is preserved on return, as any bits above *have + bits in
+// the last byte written will be set to zeros.
+static inline void append_bits(unsigned value, int bits,
+                               unsigned char *in, int *have) {
+    in += *have >> 3;           // where the first bits from value will go
+    int k = *have & 7;          // the number of bits already there
+    *have += bits;
+    if (k)
+        *in |= value << k;      // write value above the low k bits
+    else
+        *in = value;
+    k = 8 - k;                  // the number of bits just appended
+    while (bits > k) {
+        value >>= k;            // drop the bits appended
+        bits -= k;
+        k = 8;                  // now at a byte boundary
+        *++in = value;
+    }
+}
+
+// Insert enough bits in the form of empty deflate blocks in front of the the
+// low bits bits of value, in order to bring the sequence to a byte boundary.
+// Then feed that to inflate(). This does what inflatePrime() does, except that
+// a negative value of bits is not supported. bits must be in 0..16. If the
+// arguments are invalid, Z_STREAM_ERROR is returned. Otherwise the return
+// value from inflate() is returned.
+static int inflatePreface(z_stream *strm, int bits, int value) {
+    // Check input.
+    if (strm == Z_NULL || bits < 0 || bits > 16)
+        return Z_STREAM_ERROR;
+    if (bits == 0)
+        return Z_OK;
+    value &= (2 << (bits - 1)) - 1;
+
+    // An empty dynamic block with an odd number of bits (95). The high bit of
+    // the last byte is unused.
+    static const unsigned char dyn[] = {
+        4, 0xe0, 0x81, 8, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0x20, 0xa8, 0xab, 0x1f
+    };
+    const int dynlen = 95;          // number of bits in the block
+
+    // Build an input buffer for inflate that is a multiple of eight bits in
+    // length, and that ends with the low bits bits of value.
+    unsigned char in[(dynlen + 3 * 10 + 16 + 7) / 8];
+    int have = 0;
+    if (bits & 1) {
+        // Insert an empty dynamic block to get to an odd number of bits, so
+        // when bits bits from value are appended, we are at an even number of
+        // bits.
+        memcpy(in, dyn, sizeof(dyn));
+        have = dynlen;
+    }
+    while ((have + bits) & 7)
+        // Insert empty fixed blocks until appending bits bits would put us on
+        // a byte boundary. This will insert at most three fixed blocks.
+        append_bits(2, 10, in, &have);
+
+    // Append the bits bits from value, which takes us to a byte boundary.
+    append_bits(value, bits, in, &have);
+
+    // Deliver the input to inflate(). There is no output space provided, but
+    // inflate() can't get stuck waiting on output not ingesting all of the
+    // provided input. The reason is that there will be at most 16 bits of
+    // input from value after the empty deflate blocks (which themselves
+    // generate no output). At least ten bits are needed to generate the first
+    // output byte from a fixed block. The last two bytes of the buffer have to
+    // be ingested in order to get ten bits, which is the most that value can
+    // occupy.
+    strm->avail_in = have >> 3;
+    strm->next_in = in;
+    strm->avail_out = 0;
+    strm->next_out = in;                // not used, but can't be NULL
+    return inflate(strm, Z_NO_FLUSH);
+}
+
+#else
+#  define INFLATEPRIME inflatePrime
+#endif
+
 // See comments in zran.h.
 ptrdiff_t deflate_index_extract(FILE *in, struct deflate_index *index,
                                 off_t offset, unsigned char *buf, size_t len) {
@@ -272,7 +361,7 @@
     if (ret != Z_OK)
         return ret;
     if (point->bits)
-        inflatePrime(&strm, point->bits, ch >> (8 - point->bits));
+        INFLATEPRIME(&strm, point->bits, ch >> (8 - point->bits));
     inflateSetDictionary(&strm, point->window, WINSIZE);
 
     // Skip uncompressed bytes until offset reached, then satisfy request.