diff --git a/desktop.c b/desktop.c
index 28c7a47..81f5ec9 100644
--- a/desktop.c
+++ b/desktop.c
@@ -26,6 +26,31 @@ static char name_llcc[64] = { 0 };
 static char generic_name_ll[64] = { 0 };
 static char generic_name_llcc[64] = { 0 };
 
+ /*
+  * this snippet stolen from Fabrice Bellard
+  * as used in qemu
+  * https://github.com/qemu/qemu/blob/master/util/cutils.c
+  * as an attempt to replace strncpy
+  */
+
+void
+pstrcpy(char *buf, int buf_size, const char *str)
+{
+	int c;
+	char *q = buf;
+
+	if (buf_size <= 0)
+		return;
+
+	for(;;) {
+		c = *str++;
+		if (c == 0 || q >= buf + buf_size - 1)
+			break;
+		*q++ = c;
+	}
+	*q = '\0';
+}
+
 static void
 i18n_init(void)
 {
@@ -48,14 +73,14 @@ i18n_init(void)
 	}
 
 	/* ll_CC */
-	strncpy(llcc, p, sizeof(llcc));
+	pstrcpy(llcc, sizeof(llcc), p);
 	p = strrchr(llcc, '.');
 	if (p) {
 		*p = '\0';
 	}
 
 	/* ll */
-	strncpy(ll, llcc, sizeof(ll));
+	pstrcpy(ll, sizeof(ll), llcc);
 	p = strrchr(ll, '_');
 	if (p) {
 		*p = '\0';
diff --git a/desktop.h b/desktop.h
index 5f7720f..6fad5c2 100644
--- a/desktop.h
+++ b/desktop.h
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ struct app {
 	bool has_been_mapped;
 };
 
+void pstrcpy(char *buf, int buf_size, const char *str);
 /* desktop_entries_create - parse system .desktop files */
 GList *desktop_entries_create(void);
 void desktop_entries_destroy(GList *apps);