parent_file.ptr = grab_blob(parent, &sz);
        parent_file.size = sz;
+       memset(&xpp, 0, sizeof(xpp));
        xpp.flags = XDF_NEED_MINIMAL;
        memset(&xecfg, 0, sizeof(xecfg));
        memset(&state, 0, sizeof(state));
                        goto deleted_file;
 
                if (S_ISLNK(st.st_mode)) {
-                       size_t len = xsize_t(st.st_size);
-                       result_size = len;
-                       result = xmalloc(len + 1);
-                       if (result_size != readlink(elem->path, result, len)) {
+                       struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+
+                       if (strbuf_readlink(&buf, elem->path, st.st_size) < 0) {
                                error("readlink(%s): %s", elem->path,
                                      strerror(errno));
                                return;
                        }
-                       result[len] = 0;
+                       result_size = buf.len;
+                       result = strbuf_detach(&buf, NULL);
                        elem->mode = canon_mode(st.st_mode);
                }
                else if (0 <= (fd = open(elem->path, O_RDONLY)) &&