If you run this: {for (i in `{seq 1 70000}) echo '½•α·'} | mc | wc mc will eventually suicide. The error comes from /sys/src/libdraw/font.c:/^agefont which assumes it has a display. Normally, this is set up by geninitdraw (usually via initdraw), but mc.c avoids that to avoid the screen redraws (flicker, at a minimum, but worse in long-running cases). graphics(2) does not prohibit this use, so I made the least intrusive change to make it work. Reference: /n/atom/patch/applied2013/agefont-nodisplay Date: Tue May 21 03:12:53 CES 2013 Signed-off-by: a@9srv.net --- /sys/src/libdraw/font.c Tue May 21 03:12:53 2013 +++ /sys/src/libdraw/font.c Tue May 21 03:12:52 2013 @@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ if(s->age){ if(s->agecf->name != nil){ /* clean up */ - if(s->f != display->defaultsubfont) + if(display == nil || s->f != display->defaultsubfont) freesubfont(s->f); s->cf = nil; s->f = nil;