diff --git a/sw/airborne/arch/stm32/gpio.h b/sw/airborne/arch/stm32/gpio.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c1fd98be90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sw/airborne/arch/stm32/gpio.h
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#ifndef GPIO_H
+#define GPIO_H
+
+/* this is an empty header for now to make things build on stm32 */
+
+#endif /* GPIO_H */