diff --git a/edit/edit.c b/edit/edit.c
index 4bce1196c..8f2bca76e 100644
--- a/edit/edit.c
+++ b/edit/edit.c
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
 #include "../src/cmd.h"		/* view_other_cmd() */
 #include "../src/user.h"	/* user_menu_cmd() */
 #include "../src/wtools.h"	/* query_dialog() */
+#include "../src/timefmt.h"	/* time formatting */
 
 
 /*
@@ -2517,20 +2518,13 @@ edit_execute_cmd (WEdit *edit, int command, int char_for_insertion)
 	break;
 
     case CK_Date:{
-	    time_t t;
-#ifdef HAVE_STRFTIME
 	    char s[1024];
 	    /* fool gcc to prevent a Y2K warning */
 	    char time_format[] = "_c";
 	    time_format[0] = '%';
-#endif
-	    time (&t);
-#ifdef HAVE_STRFTIME
-	    strftime (s, sizeof (s), time_format, localtime (&t));
+
+	    FMT_LOCALTIME_CURRENT(s, sizeof(s), time_format);
 	    edit_print_string (edit, s);
-#else
-	    edit_print_string (edit, ctime (&t));
-#endif
 	    edit->force |= REDRAW_PAGE;
 	    break;
 	}
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index ccf0f8bba..a4713a625 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ SRCS =	achown.c achown.h background.c background.h boxes.c boxes.h	\
 	popt.c poptconfig.c popt.h popthelp.c poptint.h poptparse.c	\
 	profile.c profile.h regex.c rxvt.c screen.c setup.c setup.h	\
 	slint.c	subshell.c subshell.h textconf.c textconf.h		\
-	tree.c tree.h treestore.c treestore.h tty.c tty.h user.c user.h	\
-	util.c util.h utilunix.c view.c view.h vfsdummy.h widget.c	\
+	tree.c tree.h treestore.c treestore.h timefmt.h tty.c tty.h user.c	\
+	user.h util.c util.h utilunix.c view.c view.h vfsdummy.h widget.c	\
 	widget.h win.c win.h wtools.c wtools.h unixcompat.h		\
 	x11conn.h x11conn.c ecs.h ecs.c
 
diff --git a/src/timefmt.h b/src/timefmt.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2b8d52fd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/timefmt.h
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#ifndef __UTIL_TIMEFMT_H
+#define __UTIL_TIMEFMT_H
+
+#include <sys/types.h>
+
+#define INVALID_TIME_TEXT	"(invalid)"
+
+#ifdef HAVE_STRFTIME
+
+/* safe localtime formatting - strftime()-using version */
+#define FMT_LOCALTIME(buffer, bufsize, fmt, when)			\
+    {									\
+	struct tm *whentm;						\
+	whentm = localtime(&when);					\
+	if (whentm == NULL)						\
+	{								\
+	    strncpy(buffer, INVALID_TIME_TEXT, bufsize);		\
+	    buffer[bufsize-1] = 0;					\
+	}								\
+	else								\
+	{								\
+	    strftime(buffer, bufsize, fmt, whentm);			\
+	}								\
+    }									\
+
+#else
+
+/* fallback when strftime/localtime not available */
+#define FMT_LOCALTIME(buffer,bufsize,fmt,when)			\
+    {								\
+	ctime_r(when,buffer);					\
+    }								\
+
+#endif
+
+#define FMT_LOCALTIME_CURRENT(buffer, bufsize, fmt)		\
+    {								\
+	time_t __current_time;					\
+	time(&__current_time);					\
+	FMT_LOCALTIME(buffer,bufsize,fmt,__current_time);	\
+    }
+
+#endif				/* !__UTIL_H */
diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index da6d1b2b8..2e4eabbca 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 #include "cmd.h"		/* guess_message_value */
 #include "mountlist.h"
 #include "win.h"		/* xterm_flag */
+#include "timefmt.h"
 
 #ifdef HAVE_CHARSET
 #include "charsets.h"
@@ -724,19 +725,24 @@ short-month-name sizes for different locales */
 size_t
 i18n_checktimelength (void)
 {
-    size_t length, a, b;
-    char buf [MAX_I18NTIMELENGTH + 1];
     time_t testtime = time (NULL);
-    
-    a = strftime (buf, sizeof(buf)-1, _("%b %e %H:%M"), localtime(&testtime));
-    b = strftime (buf, sizeof(buf)-1, _("%b %e  %Y"), localtime(&testtime));
-    
-    length = max (a, b);
-    length = max (strlen (_("(invalid)")), length);
-    
+    struct tm* lt = localtime(&testtime);
+    size_t length;
+
+    if (lt == NULL) {
+	    // huh, localtime() doesnt seem to work ... falling back to "(invalid)"
+	    length = strlen(INVALID_TIME_TEXT);
+    } else {
+	    char buf [MAX_I18NTIMELENGTH + 1];
+	    size_t a, b;
+	    a = strftime (buf, sizeof(buf)-1, _("%b %e %H:%M"), lt);
+	    b = strftime (buf, sizeof(buf)-1, _("%b %e  %Y"), lt);
+	    length = max (a, b);
+    }
+
     /* Don't handle big differences. Use standard value (email bug, please) */
     if ( length > MAX_I18NTIMELENGTH || length < MIN_I18NTIMELENGTH )
-	length = STD_I18NTIMELENGTH;
+	    length = STD_I18NTIMELENGTH;
     
     return length;
 }
@@ -773,11 +779,8 @@ file_date (time_t when)
     else
 	fmt = fmttime;
     
-    whentm = localtime(&when);
-    if (whentm == NULL)
-	g_snprintf (timebuf, i18n_timelength, "%s", _("(invalid)"));
-    else
-	strftime (timebuf, i18n_timelength, fmt, whentm);
+    FMT_LOCALTIME(timebuf, i18n_timelength, fmt, when);
+
     return timebuf;
 }