diff --git a/kernel/klibc.c b/kernel/klibc.c
index 7d8bb8167..e960b8534 100644
--- a/kernel/klibc.c
+++ b/kernel/klibc.c
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ PUBLIC int kstrncmp(register const char *s1, register const char *s2, register s
 /*=========================================================================*
  *				kstrncpy				   *
  *=========================================================================*/
-PUBLIC char *kstrncpy(char *ret, register const char *s2, register size_t n)
+PUBLIC char *kstrncpy(char *ret, register const char *s2, register ssize_t n)
 {
   register char *s1 = ret;
   while((n-- > 0) && (*s1++ = *s2++)) 	/* copy up to n chars */
diff --git a/kernel/proto.h b/kernel/proto.h
index 3ad557672..b26a21a0e 100755
--- a/kernel/proto.h
+++ b/kernel/proto.h
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ _PROTOTYPE( size_t kstrlen, (const char *s));
 _PROTOTYPE( int kstrncmp,
 	(register const char *s1, register const char *s2, register size_t n));
 _PROTOTYPE( char *kstrncpy, 
-	(char *s1, register const char *s2, register const size_t n));
+	(char *s1, register const char *s2, register const ssize_t n));
 #define karg(arg) (karg_t) (arg)
 _PROTOTYPE( void kprintf, (const char *fmt, karg_t arg)			);
 
diff --git a/kernel/start.c b/kernel/start.c
index 7ef1c131c..bf82c6f92 100755
--- a/kernel/start.c
+++ b/kernel/start.c
@@ -55,8 +55,10 @@ U16_t parmoff, parmsize;	/* boot parameters offset and length */
   /* Record miscellaneous information for user-space servers. */
   kinfo.nr_procs = NR_PROCS;
   kinfo.nr_tasks = NR_TASKS;
-  kstrncpy(kinfo.release, OS_RELEASE, 4);
-  kstrncpy(kinfo.version, OS_VERSION, 4);
+  kstrncpy(kinfo.release, OS_RELEASE, sizeof(kinfo.release));
+  kinfo.release[sizeof(kinfo.release)-1] = '\0';
+  kstrncpy(kinfo.version, OS_VERSION, sizeof(kinfo.version));
+  kinfo.version[sizeof(kinfo.version)-1] = '\0';
   kinfo.proc_addr = (vir_bytes) proc;
   kinfo.kmem_base = vir2phys(0);
   kinfo.kmem_size = (phys_bytes) &end;