diff --git a/apps/debug_menu.c b/apps/debug_menu.c
index 5ebaa3a3f4..a4bfe65b1c 100644
--- a/apps/debug_menu.c
+++ b/apps/debug_menu.c
@@ -2297,11 +2297,6 @@ static bool cpu_boost_log(void)
 static bool cpu_boost_log_dump(void)
 {
     int fd;
-#if CONFIG_RTC
-    struct tm *nowtm;
-    char fname[MAX_PATH];
-#endif
-
     int count = cpu_boost_log_getcount();
     char *str = cpu_boost_log_getlog_first();
 
@@ -2312,11 +2307,11 @@ static bool cpu_boost_log_dump(void)
         return false;
 
 #if CONFIG_RTC
-    nowtm = get_time();
-    snprintf(fname, MAX_PATH, "%s/boostlog_%04d%02d%02d%02d%02d%02d.txt", ROCKBOX_DIR,
-             nowtm->tm_year + 1900, nowtm->tm_mon + 1, nowtm->tm_mday,
-             nowtm->tm_hour, nowtm->tm_min, nowtm->tm_sec);
-    fd = open(fname, O_CREAT|O_WRONLY|O_TRUNC);
+    struct tm *nowtm = get_time();
+    fd = open_pathfmt(O_CREAT|O_WRONLY|O_TRUNC,
+                      "%s/boostlog_%04d%02d%02d%02d%02d%02d.txt", ROCKBOX_DIR,
+                      nowtm->tm_year + 1900, nowtm->tm_mon + 1, nowtm->tm_mday,
+                      nowtm->tm_hour, nowtm->tm_min, nowtm->tm_sec);
 #else
     fd = open(ROCKBOX_DIR "/boostlog.txt", O_CREAT|O_WRONLY|O_TRUNC, 0666);
 #endif
diff --git a/apps/filetypes.c b/apps/filetypes.c
index 24dc0f2e4d..74607eac1c 100644
--- a/apps/filetypes.c
+++ b/apps/filetypes.c
@@ -262,9 +262,9 @@ void read_color_theme_file(void) {
     unknown_file.color = -1;
     if (!global_settings.colors_file[0] || global_settings.colors_file[0] == '-')
         return;
-    snprintf(buffer, MAX_PATH, THEME_DIR "/%s.colours",
-             global_settings.colors_file);
-    fd = open(buffer, O_RDONLY);
+
+    fd = open_pathfmt(O_RDONLY, THEME_DIR "/%s.colours",
+                                            global_settings.colors_file);
     if (fd < 0)
         return;
     while (read_line(fd, buffer, MAX_PATH) > 0)
@@ -303,9 +303,8 @@ void read_viewer_theme_file(void)
         custom_filetype_icons[i] = filetypes[i].icon;
     }
 
-    snprintf(buffer, MAX_PATH, "%s/%s.icons", ICON_DIR,
-             global_settings.viewers_icon_file);
-    fd = open(buffer, O_RDONLY);
+    fd = open_pathfmt(O_RDONLY, "%s/%s.icons", ICON_DIR,
+                                global_settings.viewers_icon_file);
     if (fd < 0)
         return;
     while (read_line(fd, buffer, MAX_PATH) > 0)
diff --git a/apps/gui/icon.c b/apps/gui/icon.c
index e78aa6841c..2c09f88852 100644
--- a/apps/gui/icon.c
+++ b/apps/gui/icon.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include "bmp.h"
 #include "filetypes.h"
 #include "language.h"
+#include "misc.h"
 
 #include "bitmaps/default_icons.h"
 #if defined(HAVE_REMOTE_LCD) && (NB_SCREENS > 1)
@@ -181,10 +182,7 @@ static void load_icons(const char* filename, enum Iconset iconset,
     ic->handle = 0;
     if (filename[0] && filename[0] != '-')
     {
-        char path[MAX_PATH];
-
-        snprintf(path, sizeof(path), ICON_DIR "/%s.bmp", filename);
-        fd = open(path, O_RDONLY);
+        fd = open_pathfmt(O_RDONLY, ICON_DIR "/%s.bmp", filename);
         if (fd < 0)
             return;
         buf_size = read_bmp_fd(fd, &ic->bmp, 0,
diff --git a/apps/logfdisp.c b/apps/logfdisp.c
index b139f30ac7..aebc9ffb33 100644
--- a/apps/logfdisp.c
+++ b/apps/logfdisp.c
@@ -35,7 +35,9 @@
 #include "logfdisp.h"
 #include "action.h"
 #include "splash.h"
-
+#if CONFIG_RTC
+#include "misc.h"
+#endif /*CONFIG_RTC*/
 int compute_nb_lines(int w, struct font* font)
 {
     int i, nb_lines;
@@ -212,10 +214,6 @@ bool logfdisplay(void)
 bool logfdump(void)
 {
     int fd;
-#if CONFIG_RTC
-    struct tm *nowtm;
-    char fname[MAX_PATH];
-#endif
 
     splashf(HZ, "Log File Dumped");
 
@@ -227,11 +225,11 @@ bool logfdump(void)
     logfenabled = false;
 
 #if CONFIG_RTC
-    nowtm = get_time();
-    snprintf(fname, MAX_PATH, "%s/logf_%04d%02d%02d%02d%02d%02d.txt", ROCKBOX_DIR,
+    struct tm *nowtm = get_time();
+    fd = open_pathfmt(O_CREAT|O_WRONLY|O_TRUNC,
+             "%s/logf_%04d%02d%02d%02d%02d%02d.txt", ROCKBOX_DIR,
              nowtm->tm_year + 1900, nowtm->tm_mon + 1, nowtm->tm_mday,
              nowtm->tm_hour, nowtm->tm_min, nowtm->tm_sec);
-    fd = open(fname, O_CREAT|O_WRONLY|O_TRUNC);
 #else
     fd = open(ROCKBOX_DIR "/logf.txt", O_CREAT|O_WRONLY|O_TRUNC, 0666);
 #endif
diff --git a/apps/misc.c b/apps/misc.c
index 0bac986a6f..66d1c272ae 100644
--- a/apps/misc.c
+++ b/apps/misc.c
@@ -1418,6 +1418,16 @@ int string_option(const char *option, const char *const oplist[], bool ignore_ca
     return -1;
 }
 
+/* open but with a builtin printf for assembling the path */
+int open_pathfmt(int oflag, const char *pathfmt, ...)
+{
+    static char buf[MAX_PATH];
+    va_list ap;
+    vsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), pathfmt, ap);
+    va_end(ap);
+    return open(buf, oflag, 0666);
+}
+
 /** Open a UTF-8 file and set file descriptor to first byte after BOM.
  *  If no BOM is present this behaves like open().
  *  If the file is opened for writing and O_TRUNC is set, write a BOM to
diff --git a/apps/misc.h b/apps/misc.h
index ed40de3e1f..50191f0e95 100644
--- a/apps/misc.h
+++ b/apps/misc.h
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ extern int show_logo(void);
 #define BOM_UTF_16_SIZE 2
 
 int split_string(char *str, const char needle, char *vector[], int vector_length);
+int open_pathfmt(int oflag, const char *pathfmt, ...);
 int open_utf8(const char* pathname, int flags);
 int string_option(const char *option, const char *const oplist[], bool ignore_case);
 
diff --git a/apps/tagcache.c b/apps/tagcache.c
index b91195813e..a297bc7353 100644
--- a/apps/tagcache.c
+++ b/apps/tagcache.c
@@ -422,19 +422,17 @@ static ssize_t ecwrite_index_entry(int fd, struct index_entry *buf)
 static int open_tag_fd(struct tagcache_header *hdr, int tag, bool write)
 {
     int fd;
-    char buf[MAX_PATH];
-    const int bufsz = sizeof(buf);
     int rc;
 
     if (TAGCACHE_IS_NUMERIC(tag) || tag < 0 || tag >= TAG_COUNT)
         return -1;
 
-    snprintf(buf, bufsz, TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX, tag);
+    fd = open_pathfmt(write ? O_RDWR : O_RDONLY, TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX, tag);
 
-    fd = open(buf, write ? O_RDWR : O_RDONLY);
     if (fd < 0)
     {
-        logf("tag file open failed: tag=%d write=%d file=%s", tag, write, buf);
+        logf("tag file open failed: tag=%d write=%d file= " TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX,
+             tag, write, tag);
         tc_stat.ready = false;
         return fd;
     }
@@ -805,10 +803,7 @@ static bool open_files(struct tagcache_search *tcs, int tag)
 {
     if (tcs->idxfd[tag] < 0)
     {
-        char fn[MAX_PATH];
-
-        snprintf(fn, sizeof fn, TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX, tag);
-        tcs->idxfd[tag] = open(fn, O_RDONLY);
+        tcs->idxfd[tag] = open_pathfmt(O_RDONLY, TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX, tag);
     }
 
     if (tcs->idxfd[tag] < 0)
@@ -1588,12 +1583,9 @@ bool tagcache_search_add_clause(struct tagcache_search *tcs,
         }
 
         if (!TAGCACHE_IS_NUMERIC(clause->tag) && tcs->idxfd[clause->tag] < 0)
-        {
-            char buf[MAX_PATH];
-            const int bufsz = sizeof(buf);
-            
-            snprintf(buf, bufsz, TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX, clause->tag);        
-            tcs->idxfd[clause->tag] = open(buf, O_RDONLY);
+        {   
+            tcs->idxfd[clause->tag] = open_pathfmt(O_RDONLY,
+                                              TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX, clause->tag);
         }
     }
 
@@ -2751,11 +2743,11 @@ static int build_index(int index_type, struct tagcache_header *h, int tmpfd)
          * Creating new index file to store the tags. No need to preload
          * anything whether the index type is sorted or not.
          */
-        snprintf(buf, bufsz, TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX, index_type);
-        fd = open(buf, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC, 0666);
+        fd = open_pathfmt(O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC,
+                          TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX, index_type);
         if (fd < 0)
         {
-            logf("%s open fail", buf);
+            logf(TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX " open fail", index_type);
             return -2;
         }
 
@@ -4408,12 +4400,11 @@ static bool check_deleted_files(void)
     struct tagfile_entry tfe;
 
     logf("reverse scan...");
-    snprintf(buf, bufsz, TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX, tag_filename);
-    fd = open(buf, O_RDONLY);
 
+    fd = open_pathfmt(O_RDONLY, TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX, tag_filename);
     if (fd < 0)
     {
-        logf("%s open fail", buf);
+        logf(TAGCACHE_FILE_INDEX " open fail", tag_filename);
         return false;
     }
 
diff --git a/apps/talk.c b/apps/talk.c
index 8507a89541..89319ae9a2 100644
--- a/apps/talk.c
+++ b/apps/talk.c
@@ -247,7 +247,6 @@ static struct buflib_callbacks talk_ops = {
 
 static int open_voicefile(void)
 {
-    char buf[64];
     char* p_lang = DEFAULT_VOICE_LANG; /* default */
 
     if ( global_settings.lang_file[0] &&
@@ -256,9 +255,7 @@ static int open_voicefile(void)
         p_lang = (char *)global_settings.lang_file;
     }
 
-    snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), LANG_DIR "/%s.voice", p_lang);
-
-    return open(buf, O_RDONLY);
+    return open_pathfmt(O_RDONLY, LANG_DIR "/%s.voice", p_lang);
 }