diff --git a/src/misc/realpath.c b/src/misc/realpath.c
index 2b84649716b4bc08f004b0707f6ed44f20c3aa5f..43d4018358f718c69455192930ec73ffe540e4de 100644
--- a/src/misc/realpath.c
+++ b/src/misc/realpath.c
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
+#include <string.h>
 
 void __procfdname(char *, unsigned);
 
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ char *realpath(const char *restrict filename, char *restrict resolved)
 	ssize_t r;
 	struct stat st1, st2;
 	char buf[15+3*sizeof(int)];
-	int alloc = 0;
+	char tmp[PATH_MAX];
 
 	if (!filename) {
 		errno = EINVAL;
@@ -25,27 +26,20 @@ char *realpath(const char *restrict filename, char *restrict resolved)
 	if (fd < 0) return 0;
 	__procfdname(buf, fd);
 
-	if (!resolved) {
-		alloc = 1;
-		resolved = malloc(PATH_MAX);
-		if (!resolved) return 0;
-	}
-
-	r = readlink(buf, resolved, PATH_MAX-1);
+	r = readlink(buf, tmp, sizeof tmp - 1);
 	if (r < 0) goto err;
-	resolved[r] = 0;
+	tmp[r] = 0;
 
 	fstat(fd, &st1);
-	r = stat(resolved, &st2);
+	r = stat(tmp, &st2);
 	if (r<0 || st1.st_dev != st2.st_dev || st1.st_ino != st2.st_ino) {
 		if (!r) errno = ELOOP;
 		goto err;
 	}
 
 	close(fd);
-	return resolved;
+	return resolved ? strcpy(resolved, tmp) : strdup(tmp);
 err:
-	if (alloc) free(resolved);
 	close(fd);
 	return 0;
 }