diff --git a/include/extern.h b/include/extern.h
index 247d21d3f..d0fb3b5de 100644
--- a/include/extern.h
+++ b/include/extern.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* NetHack 3.7	extern.h	$NHDT-Date: 1704225560 2024/01/02 19:59:20 $  $NHDT-Branch: keni-luabits2 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.1358 $ */
+/* NetHack 3.7	extern.h	$NHDT-Date: 1706213788 2024/01/25 20:16:28 $  $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.7 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.1373 $ */
 /* Copyright (c) Steve Creps, 1988.                               */
 /* NetHack may be freely redistributed.  See license for details. */
 
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ extern char *fmt_ptr(const void *) NONNULL;
 extern int FITSint_(long long, const char *, int) NONNULLARG2;
 #define FITSuint(x) FITSuint_(x, __func__, __LINE__)
 extern unsigned FITSuint_(unsigned long long, const char *, int) NONNULLARG2;
+/* for Strlen() which returns unsigned instead of size_t and panics for
+   strings of length INT_MAX (32K - 1) or longer */
+extern unsigned Strlen_(const char *, const char *, int) NONNULLPTRS;
 
 /* This next pre-processor directive covers almost the entire file,
  * interrupted only occasionally to pick up specific functions as needed. */
diff --git a/src/alloc.c b/src/alloc.c
index 690ffd1f3..fcbfb3ffc 100644
--- a/src/alloc.c
+++ b/src/alloc.c
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
-/* NetHack 3.7	alloc.c	$NHDT-Date: 1706082987 2024/01/24 07:56:27 $  $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.7 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.33 $ */
+/* NetHack 3.7	alloc.c	$NHDT-Date: 1706213795 2024/01/25 20:16:35 $  $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.7 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.34 $ */
 /* Copyright (c) Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1985. */
 /*-Copyright (c) Robert Patrick Rankin, 2012. */
 /* NetHack may be freely redistributed.  See license for details. */
 
-/* to get the malloc() prototype from system.h */
 #define ALLOC_C /* comment line for pre-compiled headers */
 /* since this file is also used in auxiliary programs, don't include all the
    function declarations for all of nethack */
@@ -14,10 +13,17 @@
 #include "nhlua.h"
 #endif
 
-/*#define FITSint(x) FITSint_(x, __func__, (int) __LINE__)*/
+/*
+ * Some stuff that isn't allocation related but included is this file
+ * so that utility programs can access it more easily since they link
+ * with alloc.{o,obj}.
+ */
+/*#define FITSint(x) FITSint_(x, __func__, __LINE__)*/
 extern int FITSint_(LUA_INTEGER, const char *, int) NONNULLARG2;
-/*#define FITSuint(x) FITSuint_(x, __func__, (int) __LINE__)*/
+/*#define FITSuint(x) FITSuint_(x, __func__, __LINE__)*/
 extern unsigned FITSuint_(unsigned long long, const char *, int) NONNULLARG2;
+/*#define Strlen(s) Strlen_(s, __func__, __LINE__)*/
+extern unsigned Strlen_(const char *, const char *, int) NONNULLPTRS;
 
 char *fmt_ptr(const genericptr) NONNULL;
 
@@ -271,4 +277,25 @@ FITSuint_(unsigned long long ull, const char *file, int line)
     return uret;
 }
 
+/* strlen() but returns unsigned and panics if string is unreasonably long;
+   used by dlb as well as by nethack */
+unsigned
+Strlen_(
+    const char *str,
+    const char *file,
+    int line)
+{
+    const char *p;
+    size_t len;
+
+    /* strnlen(str, LARGEST_INT) w/o requiring posix.1 headers or libraries */
+    for (p = str, len = 0; len < LARGEST_INT; ++len)
+        if (*p++ == '\0')
+            break;
+
+    if (len == LARGEST_INT)
+        panic("%s:%d string too long", file, line);
+    return (unsigned) len;
+}
+
 /*alloc.c*/
diff --git a/src/hacklib.c b/src/hacklib.c
index 6a642e13b..29e796927 100644
--- a/src/hacklib.c
+++ b/src/hacklib.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* NetHack 3.7	hacklib.c	$NHDT-Date: 1705957184 2024/01/22 20:59:44 $  $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.7 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.115 $ */
+/* NetHack 3.7	hacklib.c	$NHDT-Date: 1706213796 2024/01/25 20:16:36 $  $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.7 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.116 $ */
 /* Copyright (c) Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1985. */
 /*-Copyright (c) Michael Allison, 2007. */
 /* Copyright (c) Robert Patrick Rankin, 1991                      */
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
         char *          strip_newline   (char *)
         char *          stripchars      (char *, const char *, const char *)
         char *          stripdigits     (char *)
-        unsigned        Strlen_         (const char *str, const char *, int)
         char *          eos             (char *)
         const char *    c_eos           (const char *)
         boolean         str_start_is    (const char *, const char *, boolean)
@@ -233,20 +232,6 @@ c_eos(const char *s)
     return s;
 }
 
-/* like strlen(3) but returns unsigned and panics if string is unreasonably long */
-unsigned
-Strlen_(
-    const char *str,
-    const char *file,
-    int line)
-{
-    size_t len = strlen(str);
-
-    if (len >= LARGEST_INT)
-        panic("%s:%d string too long", file, line);
-    return (unsigned) len;
-}
-
 /* determine whether 'str' starts with 'chkstr', possibly ignoring case;
  * panics on huge strings */
 boolean
@@ -255,10 +240,10 @@ str_start_is(
     const char *chkstr,
     boolean caseblind)
 {
+    char t1, t2;
     int n = LARGEST_INT;
 
-    while (n--) {
-        char t1, t2;
+    while (--n) {
         if (!*str)
             return (*chkstr == 0); /* chkstr >= str */
         else if (!*chkstr)
diff --git a/util/dlb_main.c b/util/dlb_main.c
index bf9f493ac..e56485607 100644
--- a/util/dlb_main.c
+++ b/util/dlb_main.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* NetHack 3.7	dlb_main.c	$NHDT-Date: 1705957188 2024/01/22 20:59:48 $  $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.7 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.25 $ */
+/* NetHack 3.7	dlb_main.c	$NHDT-Date: 1706213798 2024/01/25 20:16:38 $  $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.7 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.27 $ */
 /* Copyright (c) Kenneth Lorber, Bethesda, Maryland, 1993. */
 /* NetHack may be freely redistributed.  See license for details. */
 
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@ ATTRNORETURN static void xexit(int) NORETURN;
 ATTRNORETURN extern void panic(const char *, ...) NORETURN;
 char *eos(char *); /* also used by dlb.c */
 FILE *fopen_datafile(const char *, const char *);
-unsigned FITSuint_(unsigned long long, const char *, int);
-unsigned Strlen_(const char *, const char *, int);
 
 #ifdef DLB
 #ifdef DLBLIB
@@ -367,8 +365,7 @@ main(int argc UNUSED_if_no_DLB, char **argv UNUSED_if_no_DLB)
             for (; ap < argc; ap++, nfiles++) {
                 if (nfiles == ldlimit)
                     grow_ld(&ld, &ldlimit, DLB_FILES_ALLOC / 5);
-                ld[nfiles].fname = (char *) alloc(Strlen(argv[ap]) + 1);
-                Strcpy(ld[nfiles].fname, argv[ap]);
+                ld[nfiles].fname = dupstr(argv[ap]);
             }
         }
 
@@ -385,8 +382,7 @@ main(int argc UNUSED_if_no_DLB, char **argv UNUSED_if_no_DLB)
                 if (nfiles == ldlimit)
                     grow_ld(&ld, &ldlimit, DLB_FILES_ALLOC / 5);
                 *(eos(buf) - 1) = '\0'; /* strip newline */
-                ld[nfiles].fname = (char *) alloc((int)strlen(buf) + 1);
-                Strcpy(ld[nfiles].fname, buf);
+                ld[nfiles].fname = dupstr(buf);
             }
             fclose(list);
         }
@@ -409,7 +405,7 @@ main(int argc UNUSED_if_no_DLB, char **argv UNUSED_if_no_DLB)
             ld[i].fsize = lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_END);
             ld[i].foffset = flen;
 
-            slen += strlen(ld[i].fname); /* don't add null (yet) */
+            slen += (long) strlen(ld[i].fname); /* don't add null (yet) */
             flen += ld[i].fsize;
             close(fd);
         }
@@ -425,7 +421,7 @@ main(int argc UNUSED_if_no_DLB, char **argv UNUSED_if_no_DLB)
         /* caculate directory size */
         dir_size = 40                    /* header line (see below) */
                    + ((nfiles + 1) * 11) /* handling+file offset+SP+newline */
-                   + slen + strlen(DLB_DIRECTORY); /* file names */
+                   + slen + (long) strlen(DLB_DIRECTORY); /* file names */
 
         /* write directory */
         write_dlb_directory(out, nfiles, ld, slen, dir_size, flen);
@@ -552,17 +548,4 @@ xexit(int retcd)
     /*NOTREACHED*/
 }
 
-/* from hacklib.c */
-unsigned
-Strlen_(const char *str, const char *file, int line)
-{
-    size_t len = strlen(str);
-
-    if (len >= LARGEST_INT) {
-        panic("%s:%d string too long", file, line);
-        /*NOTREACHED*/
-    }
-    return (unsigned) len;
-}
-
 /*dlb_main.c*/