diff --git a/ctr-std/src/sys/unix/alloc.rs b/ctr-std/src/sys/unix/alloc.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7eb2f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ctr-std/src/sys/unix/alloc.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+// Copyright 2014-2015 The Rust Project Developers. See the COPYRIGHT
+// file at the top-level directory of this distribution and at
+// http://rust-lang.org/COPYRIGHT.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 <LICENSE-APACHE or
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0> or the MIT license
+// <LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT>, at your
+// option. This file may not be copied, modified, or distributed
+// except according to those terms.
+
+use alloc::allocator::{Alloc,Layout,AllocErr,Excess,CannotReallocInPlace};
+use alloc::heap;
+
+/// Heap allocator that delegates to the default liballoc heap allocator.
+/// Its purpose is to override methods while still using the standard alloc api.
+#[derive(Copy, Clone, Default, Debug)]
+pub struct Heap;
+
+unsafe impl Alloc for Heap {
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn alloc(&mut self, layout: Layout) -> Result<*mut u8, AllocErr> {
+        heap::Heap.alloc(layout)
+    }
+
+    // A nicer handler for out-of-memory situations than the default one. This
+    // one prints a message to stderr before aborting. It is critical that this
+    // code does not allocate any memory since we are in an OOM situation. Any
+    // errors are ignored while printing since there's nothing we can do about
+    // them and we are about to exit anyways.
+    #[inline]
+    fn oom(&mut self, err: AllocErr) -> ! {
+        use intrinsics;
+        use libc::{self, STDERR_FILENO, c_void};
+
+        let msg = err.description();
+        unsafe {
+            libc::write(STDERR_FILENO, msg.as_ptr() as *const c_void, msg.len());
+            libc::write(STDERR_FILENO, "\n".as_ptr() as *const c_void, 1);
+            intrinsics::abort();
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn dealloc(&mut self, ptr: *mut u8, layout: Layout) {
+        heap::Heap.dealloc(ptr, layout)
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn usable_size(&self, layout: &Layout) -> (usize, usize) {
+        heap::Heap.usable_size(layout)
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn realloc(&mut self,
+                      ptr: *mut u8,
+                      layout: Layout,
+                      new_layout: Layout)
+                      -> Result<*mut u8, AllocErr>
+    {
+        heap::Heap.realloc(ptr, layout, new_layout)
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn alloc_zeroed(&mut self, layout: Layout) -> Result<*mut u8, AllocErr> {
+        heap::Heap.alloc_zeroed(layout)
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn alloc_excess(&mut self, layout: Layout) -> Result<Excess, AllocErr> {
+        heap::Heap.alloc_excess(layout)
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn realloc_excess(&mut self,
+                             ptr: *mut u8,
+                             layout: Layout,
+                             new_layout: Layout) -> Result<Excess, AllocErr>
+    {
+        heap::Heap.realloc_excess(ptr, layout, new_layout)
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn grow_in_place(&mut self,
+                            ptr: *mut u8,
+                            layout: Layout,
+                            new_layout: Layout)
+                            -> Result<(), CannotReallocInPlace>
+    {
+        heap::Heap.grow_in_place(ptr, layout, new_layout)
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn shrink_in_place(&mut self,
+                              ptr: *mut u8,
+                              layout: Layout,
+                              new_layout: Layout) -> Result<(), CannotReallocInPlace>
+    {
+        heap::Heap.shrink_in_place(ptr, layout, new_layout)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/ctr-std/src/sys/unix/mod.rs b/ctr-std/src/sys/unix/mod.rs
index 4ac7a22..df2be06 100644
--- a/ctr-std/src/sys/unix/mod.rs
+++ b/ctr-std/src/sys/unix/mod.rs
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ pub mod thread;
 pub mod rand;
 pub mod thread_local;
 pub mod time;
+pub mod alloc;
 
 #[cfg(not(test))]
 pub fn init() {