diff --git a/proc/readproc.c b/proc/readproc.c
index 71a634b4..11f08985 100644
--- a/proc/readproc.c
+++ b/proc/readproc.c
@@ -533,32 +533,27 @@ static void statm2proc(const char* s, proc_t *restrict P) {
 }
 
 static int file2str(const char *directory, const char *what, struct utlbuf_s *ub) {
- #define readMAX  4096
- #define buffMIN (tot_read + num + 1)       // +1 for the '\0' delimiter
- #define buffGRW (30 + (buffMIN * 5) / 4)   // grow by more than 25%
-    char path[PROCPATHLEN], chunk[readMAX];
-    int fd, num, eof = 0, tot_read = 0;
+ #define buffGRW 1024
+    char path[PROCPATHLEN];
+    int fd, num, tot_read = 0;
 
     /* on first use we preallocate a buffer of minimum size to emulate
        former 'local static' behavior -- even if this read fails, that
-       buffer will likely soon be used for another subdirectory anyway */
+       buffer will likely soon be used for another subdirectory anyway
+       ( besides, with this xcalloc we will never need to use memcpy ) */
     if (ub->buf) ub->buf[0] = '\0';
-    else ub->buf = xcalloc((ub->siz = readMAX));
+    else ub->buf = xcalloc((ub->siz = buffGRW));
     sprintf(path, "%s/%s", directory, what);
     if (-1 == (fd = open(path, O_RDONLY, 0))) return -1;
-    while (!eof && 0 < (num = read(fd, chunk, readMAX))) {
-        if (ub->siz < buffMIN)
-            ub->buf = xrealloc(ub->buf, (ub->siz = buffGRW));
-        memcpy(ub->buf + tot_read, chunk, num);
+    while (0 < (num = read(fd, ub->buf + tot_read, ub->siz - tot_read))) {
         tot_read += num;
-        eof = (num < readMAX);
+        if (tot_read < ub->siz) break;
+        ub->buf = xrealloc(ub->buf, (ub->siz += buffGRW));
     };
     ub->buf[tot_read] = '\0';
     close(fd);
     if (unlikely(tot_read < 1)) return -1;
     return tot_read;
- #undef readMAX
- #undef buffMIN
  #undef buffGRW
 }