diff --git a/cmd/menu/history.c b/cmd/menu/history.c
index aab7c600..3cbbdcf3 100644
--- a/cmd/menu/history.c
+++ b/cmd/menu/history.c
@@ -82,7 +82,10 @@ history_dump(const char *path, int max) {
 	Binit(&b, fd, OWRITE);
 	hist.next = nil;
 	for(h=first; h; h=h->next)
-		Bprint(&b, "%s\n", h->string);
+		if(Bprint(&b, "%s\n", h->string) < 0) {
+			unlink(tmp);
+			exit(1);
+		}
 	Bterm(&b);
 	rename(tmp, path);
 	exit(0);
diff --git a/cmd/menu/menu.c b/cmd/menu/menu.c
index e5ac1719..d2d7c721 100644
--- a/cmd/menu/menu.c
+++ b/cmd/menu/menu.c
@@ -265,8 +265,9 @@ kdown_event(Window *w, void *aux, XKeyEvent *e) {
 	int num;
 	KeySym ksym;
 
-	buf[0] = 0;
+	buf[0] = '\0';
 	num = XLookupString(e, buf, sizeof buf, &ksym, 0);
+	buf[num] = '\0';
 	key = XKeysymToString(ksym);
 	if(IsKeypadKey(ksym))
 		if(ksym == XK_KP_Enter)
diff --git a/cmd/wmii/message.c b/cmd/wmii/message.c
index a96429af..2ebccfdb 100644
--- a/cmd/wmii/message.c
+++ b/cmd/wmii/message.c
@@ -907,13 +907,12 @@ msg_nudge(View *v, IxpMsg *m) {
 void
 msg_parsecolors(IxpMsg *m, CTuple *col) {
 	CTuple tpl;
-	static char Ebad[] = "bad color string";
 	char n;
 
 	n = loadcolor(&tpl, m->pos, m->end);
 	m->pos += n;
 	if(n == 0 || msg_getword(m, nil))
-		error(Ebad);
+		error("bad color string");
 	*col = tpl;
 }