1 files changed, 9 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index ab2d097f8b62..15962236ec65 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -230,16 +230,17 @@ bool pathExists(const Path & path)
 Path readLink(const Path & path)
 {
     checkInterrupt();
+    std::vector<char> buf;
     for (ssize_t bufSize = PATH_MAX/4; true; bufSize += bufSize/2) {
-        char buf[bufSize];
-        ssize_t rlSize = readlink(path.c_str(), buf, bufSize);
+        buf.resize(bufSize);
+        ssize_t rlSize = readlink(path.c_str(), buf.data(), bufSize);
         if (rlSize == -1)
             if (errno == EINVAL)
                 throw Error("'%1%' is not a symlink", path);
             else
                 throw SysError("reading symbolic link '%1%'", path);
         else if (rlSize < bufSize)
-            return string(buf, rlSize);
+            return string(buf.data(), rlSize);
     }
 }
 
@@ -294,10 +295,10 @@ string readFile(int fd)
     if (fstat(fd, &st) == -1)
         throw SysError("statting file");
 
-    auto buf = std::make_unique<unsigned char[]>(st.st_size);
-    readFull(fd, buf.get(), st.st_size);
+    std::vector<unsigned char> buf(st.st_size);
+    readFull(fd, buf.data(), st.st_size);
 
-    return string((char *) buf.get(), st.st_size);
+    return string((char *) buf.data(), st.st_size);
 }
 
 
@@ -439,10 +440,10 @@ Path createTempDir(const Path & tmpRoot, const Path & prefix,
 static Lazy<Path> getHome2([]() {
     Path homeDir = getEnv("HOME");
     if (homeDir.empty()) {
-        char buf[16384];
+        std::vector<char> buf(16384);
         struct passwd pwbuf;
         struct passwd * pw;
-        if (getpwuid_r(getuid(), &pwbuf, buf, sizeof(buf), &pw) != 0
+        if (getpwuid_r(getuid(), &pwbuf, buf.data(), buf.size(), &pw) != 0
             || !pw || !pw->pw_dir || !pw->pw_dir[0])
             throw Error("cannot determine user's home directory");
         homeDir = pw->pw_dir;