diff --git a/include/prototypes.h b/include/prototypes.h
index 0cc0dd1f..2fd70b6b 100644
--- a/include/prototypes.h
+++ b/include/prototypes.h
@@ -307,8 +307,8 @@ extern int has_units_with_mob(coord, coord, natid);
 extern int adj_units(coord, coord, natid);
 extern int has_helpful_engineer(coord x, coord y, natid cn);
 /* log.c */
-extern void loginit(s_char *);
-extern void logerror(s_char *, ...) ATTRIBUTE((format (printf, 1, 2)));
+extern void loginit(char *);
+extern void logerror(char *, ...) ATTRIBUTE((format (printf, 1, 2)));
 extern int oops(char *, char *, int);
 /* maps.c */
 extern int draw_map(int, s_char, int, struct nstr_sect *, int);
diff --git a/src/lib/common/log.c b/src/lib/common/log.c
index 36e2b0d5..b402aeb7 100644
--- a/src/lib/common/log.c
+++ b/src/lib/common/log.c
@@ -46,30 +46,26 @@
 #include "common.h"
 #include "optlist.h"
 
-static s_char *logfile = 0;
+static char logfile[32];
 
 /*
- * Points logfile at datadir/"program".log
+ * Points logfile at PROGRAM.log
  */
 void
-loginit(s_char *program)
+loginit(char *program)
 {
-    s_char buf[1024];
-
-    sprintf(buf, "%s/%s.log", datadir, program);
-    logfile = malloc(strlen(buf) + 1);
-    strcpy(logfile, buf);
+    sprintf(logfile, "%.*s.log", (int)sizeof(logfile) - 5, program);
 }
 
 /*VARARGS*/
 void
-logerror(s_char *format, ...)
+logerror(char *format, ...)
 {
     va_list list;
     time_t now;
-    s_char buf[512];
-    s_char cbuf[512];
-    s_char buf1[512];
+    char buf[512];
+    char cbuf[512];
+    char buf1[512];
     int logf;
     s_char *p;