diff --git a/src/cmd/cgo/ast.go b/src/cmd/cgo/ast.go
index 37c1c8f65c..7757efa1bc 100644
--- a/src/cmd/cgo/ast.go
+++ b/src/cmd/cgo/ast.go
@@ -187,6 +187,13 @@ func (f *File) saveRef(x interface{}, context string) {
 				error_(sel.Pos(), "cannot refer to errno directly; see documentation")
 				return
 			}
+			if goname == "_CMalloc" {
+				error_(sel.Pos(), "cannot refer to C._CMalloc; use C.malloc")
+				return
+			}
+			if goname == "malloc" {
+				goname = "_CMalloc"
+			}
 			name := f.Name[goname]
 			if name == nil {
 				name = &Name{
diff --git a/src/cmd/cgo/main.go b/src/cmd/cgo/main.go
index 319398907f..17b0cdd167 100644
--- a/src/cmd/cgo/main.go
+++ b/src/cmd/cgo/main.go
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ func (p *Package) Record(f *File) {
 			if p.Name[k] == nil {
 				p.Name[k] = v
 			} else if !reflect.DeepEqual(p.Name[k], v) {
-				error_(token.NoPos, "inconsistent definitions for C.%s", k)
+				error_(token.NoPos, "inconsistent definitions for C.%s", fixGo(k))
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/src/cmd/cgo/out.go b/src/cmd/cgo/out.go
index 012e0365bb..efa55a335b 100644
--- a/src/cmd/cgo/out.go
+++ b/src/cmd/cgo/out.go
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ func (p *Package) writeDefsFunc(fc, fgo2 *os.File, n *Name) {
 	}
 
 	// Builtins defined in the C prolog.
-	inProlog := name == "CString" || name == "GoString" || name == "GoStringN" || name == "GoBytes"
+	inProlog := name == "CString" || name == "GoString" || name == "GoStringN" || name == "GoBytes" || name == "_CMalloc"
 
 	if *gccgo {
 		// Gccgo style hooks.
@@ -476,9 +476,27 @@ func (p *Package) writeOutput(f *File, srcfile string) {
 	fgcc.Close()
 }
 
+// fixGo convers the internal Name.Go field into the name we should show
+// to users in error messages. There's only one for now: on input we rewrite
+// C.malloc into C._CMalloc, so change it back here.
+func fixGo(name string) string {
+	if name == "_CMalloc" {
+		return "malloc"
+	}
+	return name
+}
+
+var isBuiltin = map[string]bool{
+	"_Cfunc_CString":   true,
+	"_Cfunc_GoString":  true,
+	"_Cfunc_GoStringN": true,
+	"_Cfunc_GoBytes":   true,
+	"_Cfunc__CMalloc":  true,
+}
+
 func (p *Package) writeOutputFunc(fgcc *os.File, n *Name) {
 	name := n.Mangle
-	if name == "_Cfunc_CString" || name == "_Cfunc_GoString" || name == "_Cfunc_GoStringN" || name == "_Cfunc_GoBytes" || p.Written[name] {
+	if isBuiltin[name] || p.Written[name] {
 		// The builtins are already defined in the C prolog, and we don't
 		// want to duplicate function definitions we've already done.
 		return
@@ -1101,6 +1119,8 @@ __cgo_size_assert(double, 8)
 `
 
 const builtinProlog = `
+#include <sys/types.h> /* for size_t below */
+
 /* Define intgo when compiling with GCC.  */
 #ifdef __PTRDIFF_TYPE__
 typedef __PTRDIFF_TYPE__ intgo;
@@ -1116,6 +1136,7 @@ _GoString_ GoString(char *p);
 _GoString_ GoStringN(char *p, int l);
 _GoBytes_ GoBytes(void *p, int n);
 char *CString(_GoString_);
+void *_CMalloc(size_t);
 `
 
 const cProlog = `
@@ -1153,6 +1174,13 @@ void
 	p[s.len] = 0;
 	FLUSH(&p);
 }
+
+void
+·_Cfunc__CMalloc(uintptr n, int8 *p)
+{
+	p = runtime·cmalloc(n);
+	FLUSH(&p);
+}
 `
 
 const cPrologGccgo = `
@@ -1193,6 +1221,14 @@ Slice GoBytes(char *p, int32_t n) {
 	struct __go_string s = { (const unsigned char *)p, n };
 	return __go_string_to_byte_array(s);
 }
+
+extern void runtime_throw(const char *):
+void *Cmalloc(size_t n) {
+        void *p = malloc(n);
+        if(p == NULL)
+                runtime_throw("runtime: C malloc failed");
+        return p;
+}
 `
 
 func (p *Package) gccExportHeaderProlog() string {
diff --git a/src/pkg/runtime/cgocall.c b/src/pkg/runtime/cgocall.c
index 611ddf0e9e..2a04453fdc 100644
--- a/src/pkg/runtime/cgocall.c
+++ b/src/pkg/runtime/cgocall.c
@@ -198,6 +198,8 @@ runtime·cmalloc(uintptr n)
 	a.n = n;
 	a.ret = nil;
 	runtime·cgocall(_cgo_malloc, &a);
+	if(a.ret == nil)
+		runtime·throw("runtime: C malloc failed");
 	return a.ret;
 }