diff --git a/src/bin/e_deskenv.c b/src/bin/e_deskenv.c
index ca96cf44b..4e68a0664 100644
--- a/src/bin/e_deskenv.c
+++ b/src/bin/e_deskenv.c
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 EINTERN int
 e_deskenv_init(void)
 {
-   char buf[PATH_MAX], buf2[4096];
+   char buf[PATH_MAX], buf2[PATH_MAX + sizeof("xrdb -load ")];
 
    // run xdrb -load .Xdefaults & .Xresources
    // NOTE: one day we should replace this with an e based config + service