Index: ieee-utils/read.c
--- ieee-utils/read.c.orig
+++ ieee-utils/read.c
@@ -41,14 +41,12 @@ gsl_ieee_read_mode_string (const char * description, 
   int rounding_count = 0 ;
   int exception_count = 0 ;
 
-  start = (char *) malloc(strlen(description) + 1) ;
+  start = strdup(description) ;
 
   if (start == 0) 
     {
       GSL_ERROR ("no memory to parse mode string", GSL_ENOMEM) ;
     }
-
-  strcpy (start, description) ;
 
   p = start ;