From dd5b4a7ff2f09499f68110c28660d6731a64a80a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "google-labs-jules[bot]"
 <161369871+google-labs-jules[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2026 20:21:13 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] perf: Use stack allocation in drawstatusbar

Replaces heap allocation (malloc/free) with stack allocation for the
status text buffer in the frequently called `drawstatusbar` function.
The buffer is bounded by the global `stext` size (1024 bytes).

Impact:
- Reduces memory allocation overhead in the main drawing loop.
- Eliminates potential malloc failure point.
- Avoids heap fragmentation from small transient allocations.
---
 .jules/bolt.md |  3 +++
 bar.c          | 12 ++++--------
 2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 .jules/bolt.md

diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7e2746c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+## 2026-01-08 - Stack Allocation in Hot Path
+**Learning:** In C window managers, status bars are redrawn very frequently (every second or more). Allocating strings on the heap (`malloc`) for temporary buffers in these hot paths adds unnecessary overhead and fragmentation.
+**Action:** For bounded strings (like status text which is often limited to 1024 bytes), use stack allocation. It's faster, safer (no memory leaks), and removes failure paths (`die("malloc")`). Always check bounds with `strncpy`.
diff --git a/bar.c b/bar.c
index 8476144a..e87ea24e 100644
--- a/bar.c
+++ b/bar.c
@@ -50,18 +50,15 @@ int drawstatusbar(Monitor *m, int bh, char *stext) {
     int i;
     int w;
     int x;
-    int len;
     int cmdcounter;
     short isCode = 0;
-    char *text;
+    char text_buf[1024];
+    char *text = text_buf;
     char *p;
 
-    len = strlen(stext) + 1;
-    if (!(text = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * len))) {
-        die("malloc");
-    }
+    strncpy(text, stext, sizeof(text_buf));
+    text[sizeof(text_buf) - 1] = '\0';
     p = text;
-    memcpy(text, stext, len);
 
     /* compute width of the status text */
     w = 0;
@@ -194,7 +191,6 @@ int drawstatusbar(Monitor *m, int bh, char *stext) {
     }
 
     drw_setscheme(drw, statusscheme);
-    free(p);
 
     return ret;
 }