diff --git a/lib/libterm/termcap.3 b/lib/libterm/termcap.3
index 9a16558bb413..b837a83c2eaa 100644
--- a/lib/libterm/termcap.3
+++ b/lib/libterm/termcap.3
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\"	$NetBSD: termcap.3,v 1.21 2001/01/05 23:05:08 christos Exp $
+.\"	$NetBSD: termcap.3,v 1.22 2001/11/02 18:24:20 christos Exp $
 .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993
 .\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@
 .Ft char *
 .Fn t_getstr "struct tinfo *info" "char *id" "char **area" "size_t *limit"
 .Ft char *
-.Fn t_agetstr "struct tinfo *info" "char *id" "char **buffer" "char **area"
+.Fn t_agetstr "struct tinfo *info" "char *id"
 .Ft int
 .Fn t_getterm "struct tinfo *info" "char **area" "size_t *limit"
 .Ft int
@@ -342,55 +342,11 @@ The function
 .Fn t_agetstr
 performs the same function as 
 .Fn t_getstr
-except sufficient memory is first allocated to hold the desired string
-argument before adding it to the buffer.  To initialise the buffer for 
+except it handles memory allocation automatically. The memory that
 .Fn t_agetstr
-the first call must be done with the contents of
-.Fa buffer
-set to NULL.  Subsequent calls to 
-.Fn t_agetstr
-can pass
-.Fa buffer
-and
-.Fa area
-in unmodified and the requested string argument will be appended to
-the buffer after sufficient memory has been allocated.  Modifying either
-.Fa buffer
-or
-.Fa area
-between calls to 
-.Fn t_agetstr
-will certainly lead to the function misbehaving.  When the storage
-allocated by
-.Fn t_agetstr
-is no longer required it can be freed by passing the pointer contained
-in
-.Fa buffer
-to
-.Fn free .
-If an error occurs within
-.Fn t_agetstr
-a NULL will be returned and 
-.Fa buffer
-and
-.Fa area
-will remain unmodified.
-.Em NOTE
-.Fn t_agetstr
-uses
-.Fn realloc
-to reallocate the buffer memory so saving a copy of either 
-.Fa buffer
-or
-.Fa area
-for use after subsequent calls to 
-.Fn t_agetstr
-is likely to fail.  It is best to keep offsets from
-.Fa buffer
-to the desired string and calculate pointer addresses only after all
-the calls to
-.Fn t_agetstr
-have been done.
+allocates will be freed when
+.Fn t_freent
+is called.
 .Pp
 The function
 .Fn t_getterm
diff --git a/lib/libterm/termcap.c b/lib/libterm/termcap.c
index 116df9ee316c..78f4b294dab6 100644
--- a/lib/libterm/termcap.c
+++ b/lib/libterm/termcap.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: termcap.c,v 1.39 2001/10/31 21:52:17 christos Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: termcap.c,v 1.40 2001/11/02 18:24:20 christos Exp $	*/
 
 /*
  * Copyright (c) 1980, 1993
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 #if 0
 static char sccsid[] = "@(#)termcap.c	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93";
 #else
-__RCSID("$NetBSD: termcap.c,v 1.39 2001/10/31 21:52:17 christos Exp $");
+__RCSID("$NetBSD: termcap.c,v 1.40 2001/11/02 18:24:20 christos Exp $");
 #endif
 #endif /* not lint */
 
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ t_setinfo(struct tinfo **bp, const char *entry)
 	(*bp)->bc = t_getstr(*bp, "bc", &cap_ptr, &limit);
 	if ((*bp)->bc)
 		(*bp)->bc = strdup((*bp)->bc);
+	(*bp)->tbuf = NULL;
 	
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -251,6 +252,7 @@ t_getent(bp, name)
 		(*bp)->bc = t_getstr(*bp, "bc", &cap_ptr, &limit);
 		if ((*bp)->bc)
 			(*bp)->bc = strdup((*bp)->bc);
+		(*bp)->tbuf = NULL;
 	}
 		
 	return (i + 1);
@@ -460,39 +462,44 @@ tgetstr(id, area)
  * fix it for now is to allocate a lot -- 8K, and leak if we need to
  * realloc. This API needs to be destroyed!.
  */
-#define BSIZE 8192
+#define BSIZE 256
 char *
-t_agetstr(struct tinfo *info, const char *id, char **bufptr, char **area)
+t_agetstr(struct tinfo *info, const char *id)
 {
 	size_t new_size;
-	char *new_buf;
+	struct tbuf *tb;
 	
 	_DIAGASSERT(info != NULL);
 	_DIAGASSERT(id != NULL);
-	_DIAGASSERT(bufptr != NULL);
-	_DIAGASSERT(area != NULL);
 
 	t_getstr(info, id, NULL, &new_size);
 
-	  /* either the string is empty or the capability does not exist. */
-	if (new_size == 0 || new_size > BSIZE)
+	/* either the string is empty or the capability does not exist. */
+	if (new_size == 0)
 		return NULL;
 
-	  /* check if we have a buffer, if not malloc one and fill it in. */
-	if (*bufptr == NULL) {
-		if ((new_buf = (char *) malloc(BSIZE)) == NULL)
+	if ((tb = info->tbuf) == NULL || (tb->eptr - tb->ptr) < new_size) {
+		if (new_size < BSIZE)
+			new_size = BSIZE;
+		else
+			new_size++;
+
+		if ((tb = malloc(sizeof(*info->tbuf))) == NULL)
 			return NULL;
-		*bufptr = new_buf;
-		*area = new_buf;
-	} else if (*area - *bufptr >= BSIZE - new_size) {
-		char buf[BSIZE];
-		char *b = buf;
-		size_t len = BSIZE;
-		/* Leak! */
-		return strdup(t_getstr(info, id, &b, &len));
+
+		if ((tb->data = tb->ptr = tb->eptr = malloc(new_size)) == NULL)
+			return NULL;
+
+		tb->eptr += new_size;
+
+		if (info->tbuf != NULL)
+			tb->next = info->tbuf;
+		else
+			tb->next = NULL;
+
+		info->tbuf = tb;
 	}
-	return t_getstr(info, id, area, NULL);
-	
+	return t_getstr(info, id, &tb->ptr, NULL);
 }
  
 /*
@@ -503,12 +510,18 @@ void
 t_freent(info)
 	struct tinfo *info;
 {
+	struct tbuf *tb;
 	_DIAGASSERT(info != NULL);
 	free(info->info);
 	if (info->up != NULL)
 		free(info->up);
 	if (info->bc != NULL)
 		free(info->bc);
+	for (tb = info->tbuf; tb;) {
+		tb = info->tbuf->next;
+		free(info->tbuf->data);
+		free(info->tbuf);
+	}
 	free(info);
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/libterm/termcap.h b/lib/libterm/termcap.h
index 6e7f3dc8c9d1..c87c61f23d5f 100644
--- a/lib/libterm/termcap.h
+++ b/lib/libterm/termcap.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: termcap.h,v 1.12 2000/05/28 09:58:15 blymn Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: termcap.h,v 1.13 2001/11/02 18:24:20 christos Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 1992, 1993
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ int   t_getent	__P((struct tinfo **, const char *));
 int   t_getnum  __P((struct tinfo *, const char *));
 int   t_getflag __P((struct tinfo *, const char *));
 char *t_getstr  __P((struct tinfo *, const char *, char **, size_t *));
-char *t_agetstr(struct tinfo *, const char *, char **, char **);
+char *t_agetstr(struct tinfo *, const char *);
 int   t_getterm(struct tinfo *, char **, size_t *);
 int   t_goto    __P((struct tinfo *, const char *, int, int, char *, size_t));
 int   t_puts    __P((struct tinfo *, const char *, int,
diff --git a/lib/libterm/termcap_private.h b/lib/libterm/termcap_private.h
index c39da2f9675b..85ee84f1756b 100644
--- a/lib/libterm/termcap_private.h
+++ b/lib/libterm/termcap_private.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: termcap_private.h,v 1.3 2001/06/13 10:46:00 wiz Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: termcap_private.h,v 1.4 2001/11/02 18:24:20 christos Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 1998-1999 Brett Lymn
@@ -35,9 +35,12 @@
 struct tinfo
 {
 	char *info;
-	char *up; /* for use by tgoto */
-	char *bc; /* for use by tgoto */
+	char *up; 			/* for use by tgoto */
+	char *bc; 			/* for use by tgoto */
+	struct tbuf {			/* for use by t_agetstr() */
+		struct tbuf *next;	/* pointer to next area */
+		char *data;		/* pointer to beginning of buffer */
+		char *ptr;		/* current data pointer */
+		char *eptr;		/* pointer to the end of buffer */
+	} *tbuf;
 };
-
-
-