diff --git a/include/stdlib.h b/include/stdlib.h
index 960bf431ba89..a78dafa5dbf3 100644
--- a/include/stdlib.h
+++ b/include/stdlib.h
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ int	 radixsort __P((const unsigned char **, int, const unsigned char *,
 int	 sradixsort __P((const unsigned char **, int, const unsigned char *,
 	    unsigned));
 long	 random __P((void));
+void    *reallocf __P((void *, size_t));
 char	*realpath __P((const char *, char resolved_path[]));
 char	*setstate __P((char *));
 void	 srandom __P((unsigned long));
diff --git a/lib/libc/stdlib/Makefile.inc b/lib/libc/stdlib/Makefile.inc
index 0d7ae27093ad..5ba11f905868 100644
--- a/lib/libc/stdlib/Makefile.inc
+++ b/lib/libc/stdlib/Makefile.inc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #	from @(#)Makefile.inc	8.3 (Berkeley) 2/4/95
-#	$Id: Makefile.inc,v 1.14 1998/02/20 08:41:46 jb Exp $
+#	$Id: Makefile.inc,v 1.15 1998/05/08 05:41:56 jb Exp $
 
 # machine-independent stdlib sources
 .PATH: ${.CURDIR}/../libc/${MACHINE_ARCH}/stdlib ${.CURDIR}/../libc/stdlib
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ MISRCS+=abort.c abs.c atexit.c atof.c atoi.c atol.c bsearch.c calloc.c div.c \
 	exit.c getenv.c getopt.c getsubopt.c heapsort.c labs.c ldiv.c \
 	malloc.c merge.c putenv.c qsort.c radixsort.c rand.c random.c \
 	realpath.c setenv.c strhash.c strtol.c strtoq.c strtoul.c \
-	strtouq.c system.c
+	strtouq.c system.c reallocf.c
 
 .if ${MACHINE_ARCH} == "alpha"
 #  XXX Temporary until the assumption that a long is 32-bits is resolved
@@ -35,5 +35,5 @@ MLINKS+=random.3 initstate.3 random.3 setstate.3 random.3 srandom.3 \
 	random.3 srandomdev.3
 MLINKS+=strtol.3 strtoq.3
 MLINKS+=strtoul.3 strtouq.3
-MLINKS+=malloc.3 calloc.3 malloc.3 free.3 malloc.3 realloc.3
+MLINKS+=malloc.3 calloc.3 malloc.3 free.3 malloc.3 realloc.3 malloc.3 reallocf.3
 .endif
diff --git a/lib/libc/stdlib/malloc.3 b/lib/libc/stdlib/malloc.3
index a7d3240fd735..bb3d08c45b81 100644
--- a/lib/libc/stdlib/malloc.3
+++ b/lib/libc/stdlib/malloc.3
@@ -34,13 +34,13 @@
 .\" SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
 .\"     @(#)malloc.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
-.\"     $Id: malloc.3,v 1.14 1997/08/27 06:40:34 phk Exp $
+.\"     $Id: malloc.3,v 1.15 1997/09/18 06:51:22 charnier Exp $
 .\"
 .Dd August 27, 1996
 .Dt MALLOC 3
 .Os FreeBSD 2
 .Sh NAME
-.Nm malloc, calloc, realloc, free
+.Nm malloc, calloc, realloc, free, reallocf
 .Nd general purpose memory allocation functions
 .Sh SYNOPSIS
 .Fd #include <stdlib.h>
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@
 .Fn free "void *ptr"
 .Ft char *
 .Va malloc_options;
+.Ft void *
+.Fn reallocf "void *ptr" "size_t size"
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
 The
 .Fn malloc
@@ -109,6 +111,14 @@ function behaves identically to
 for the specified size.
 .Pp
 The
+.Fn reallocf
+function call is identical to the realloc function call, except that it
+will free the passed pointer when the requested memory cannot be allocated.
+This is a FreeBSD
+specific API designed to ease the problems with traditional coding styles
+for realloc causing memory leaks in libraries.
+.Pp
+The
 .Fn free
 function causes the allocated memory referenced by
 .Fa ptr
@@ -141,13 +151,15 @@ The process will call
 in these cases.
 .It J
 Each byte of new memory allocated by
-.Fn malloc
+.Fn malloc ,
+.Fn realloc
 or
-.Fn realloc
+.Fn freealloc
 as well as all memory returned by
-.Fn free
-or 
+.Fn free ,
 .Fn realloc
+or
+.Fn reallocf
 will be initialized to 0xd0.
 This options also sets the
 .Dq R
@@ -158,9 +170,11 @@ Pass a hint to the kernel about pages unused by the allocation functions.
 This will help performance if the system is paging excessively.  This
 option is on by default.
 .It R
-Cause the
+Causes the
 .Fn realloc
-function to always reallocate memory even if the initial allocation was
+and
+.Fn reallocf
+functions to always reallocate memory even if the initial allocation was
 sufficiently large.
 This can substantially aid in compacting memory.
 .It U
@@ -247,7 +261,9 @@ a NULL pointer is returned.
 .Pp
 The
 .Fn realloc
-function returns a pointer, possibly identical to
+and
+.Fn reallocf
+functions return a pointer, possibly identical to
 .Fa ptr ,
 to the allocated memory
 if successful; otherwise a NULL pointer is returned, in which case the
@@ -421,4 +437,5 @@ The present allocation implementation started out as a filesystem for a
 drum attached to a 20bit binary challenged computer which was built 
 with discrete germanium transistors.  It has since graduated to 
 handle primary storage rather than secondary.
-It first appeared in its new shape and ability in FreeBSD release 2.2.
+It first appeared in its new shape and ability in
+.Fx 2.2 .
diff --git a/lib/libc/stdlib/reallocf.c b/lib/libc/stdlib/reallocf.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..728acc9af579
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/libc/stdlib/reallocf.c
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+void *
+reallocf(void *ptr, size_t size)
+{
+    void *nptr;
+
+    nptr = realloc(ptr, size);
+    if (!nptr && ptr)
+        free(ptr);
+    return (nptr);
+}