diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ea8cd283e2..0887945ffa 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ LIB_OBJS = \
 	server-info.o setup.o sha1_file.o sha1_name.o strbuf.o \
 	tag.o tree.o usage.o config.o environment.o ctype.o copy.o \
 	fetch-clone.o revision.o pager.o tree-walk.o xdiff-interface.o \
-	$(DIFF_OBJS)
+	alloc.o $(DIFF_OBJS)
 
 BUILTIN_OBJS = \
 	builtin-log.o builtin-help.o builtin-count.o builtin-diff.o builtin-push.o \
diff --git a/alloc.c b/alloc.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e3b22f4322
--- /dev/null
+++ b/alloc.c
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/*
+ * alloc.c  - specialized allocator for internal objects
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2006 Linus Torvalds
+ *
+ * The standard malloc/free wastes too much space for objects, partly because
+ * it maintains all the allocation infrastructure (which isn't needed, since
+ * we never free an object descriptor anyway), but even more because it ends
+ * up with maximal alignment because it doesn't know what the object alignment
+ * for the new allocation is.
+ */
+#include "cache.h"
+#include "object.h"
+#include "blob.h"
+#include "tree.h"
+#include "commit.h"
+#include "tag.h"
+
+#define BLOCKING 1024
+
+#define DEFINE_ALLOCATOR(name)					\
+static unsigned int name##_allocs;				\
+struct name *alloc_##name##_node(void)				\
+{								\
+	static int nr;						\
+	static struct name *block;				\
+								\
+	if (!nr) {						\
+		nr = BLOCKING;					\
+		block = xcalloc(BLOCKING, sizeof(struct name));	\
+	}							\
+	nr--;							\
+	name##_allocs++;					\
+	return block++;						\
+}
+
+DEFINE_ALLOCATOR(blob)
+DEFINE_ALLOCATOR(tree)
+DEFINE_ALLOCATOR(commit)
+DEFINE_ALLOCATOR(tag)
+
+#define REPORT(name)	\
+	fprintf(stderr, "%10s: %8u (%zu kB)\n", #name, name##_allocs, name##_allocs*sizeof(struct name) >> 10)
+
+void alloc_report(void)
+{
+	REPORT(blob);
+	REPORT(tree);
+	REPORT(commit);
+	REPORT(tag);
+}
diff --git a/blob.c b/blob.c
index 7377008744..496f270043 100644
--- a/blob.c
+++ b/blob.c
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ struct blob *lookup_blob(const unsigned char *sha1)
 {
 	struct object *obj = lookup_object(sha1);
 	if (!obj) {
-		struct blob *ret = xcalloc(1, sizeof(struct blob));
+		struct blob *ret = alloc_blob_node();
 		created_object(sha1, &ret->object);
 		ret->object.type = TYPE_BLOB;
 		return ret;
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 7fcb6d406a..eaa5c0c356 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -384,4 +384,15 @@ extern void setup_pager(void);
 int decode_85(char *dst, char *line, int linelen);
 void encode_85(char *buf, unsigned char *data, int bytes);
 
+/* alloc.c */
+struct blob;
+struct tree;
+struct commit;
+struct tag;
+extern struct blob *alloc_blob_node(void);
+extern struct tree *alloc_tree_node(void);
+extern struct commit *alloc_commit_node(void);
+extern struct tag *alloc_tag_node(void);
+extern void alloc_report(void);
+
 #endif /* CACHE_H */
diff --git a/commit.c b/commit.c
index 5914200a2f..0fa1198282 100644
--- a/commit.c
+++ b/commit.c
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ struct commit *lookup_commit(const unsigned char *sha1)
 {
 	struct object *obj = lookup_object(sha1);
 	if (!obj) {
-		struct commit *ret = xcalloc(1, sizeof(struct commit));
+		struct commit *ret = alloc_commit_node();
 		created_object(sha1, &ret->object);
 		ret->object.type = TYPE_COMMIT;
 		return ret;
diff --git a/tag.c b/tag.c
index 9191333270..5f70a5b810 100644
--- a/tag.c
+++ b/tag.c
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ struct tag *lookup_tag(const unsigned char *sha1)
 {
         struct object *obj = lookup_object(sha1);
         if (!obj) {
-                struct tag *ret = xcalloc(1, sizeof(struct tag));
+                struct tag *ret = alloc_tag_node();
                 created_object(sha1, &ret->object);
                 ret->object.type = TYPE_TAG;
                 return ret;
diff --git a/tree.c b/tree.c
index 64422fd27e..10236555cc 100644
--- a/tree.c
+++ b/tree.c
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ struct tree *lookup_tree(const unsigned char *sha1)
 {
 	struct object *obj = lookup_object(sha1);
 	if (!obj) {
-		struct tree *ret = xcalloc(1, sizeof(struct tree));
+		struct tree *ret = alloc_tree_node();
 		created_object(sha1, &ret->object);
 		ret->object.type = TYPE_TREE;
 		return ret;