Avoid the struct hack, just malloc two data structures in one chunk: --- openldap-2.4.18/servers/slapd/back-ldif/ldif.c.orig 2009-08-18 23:58:27 +++ openldap-2.4.18/servers/slapd/back-ldif/ldif.c 2009-09-24 16:08:14 @@ -593,9 +593,9 @@ typedef struct bvlist { char *trunc; /* filename was truncated here */ int inum; /* num from "attr={num}" in filename, or INT_MIN */ char savech; /* original char at *trunc */ - char fname; /* variable length array BVL_NAME(bvl) = &fname */ -# define BVL_NAME(bvl) ((char *) (bvl) + offsetof(bvlist, fname)) -# define BVL_SIZE(namelen) (sizeof(bvlist) + (namelen)) + /* BVL_NAME(&bvlist) is the filename, allocated after the struct: */ +# define BVL_NAME(bvl) ((char *) ((bvl) + 1)) +# define BVL_SIZE(namelen) (sizeof(bvlist) + (namelen) + 1) } bvlist; static int