diff --git a/src/commit_list.c b/src/commit_list.c
index 53612d514..28948c88b 100644
--- a/src/commit_list.c
+++ b/src/commit_list.c
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ git_commit_list *git_commit_list_insert_by_date(git_commit_list_node *item, git_
 
 git_commit_list_node *git_commit_list_alloc_node(git_revwalk *walk)
 {
-	return (git_commit_list_node *)git_pool_malloc(&walk->commit_pool, COMMIT_ALLOC);
+	return (git_commit_list_node *)git_pool_mallocz(&walk->commit_pool, 1);
 }
 
 static int commit_error(git_commit_list_node *commit, const char *msg)
diff --git a/src/merge.c b/src/merge.c
index e84b1d3e3..a124cbdc9 100644
--- a/src/merge.c
+++ b/src/merge.c
@@ -626,7 +626,7 @@ static int merge_conflict_resolve_one_renamed(
 		git_oid__cmp(&conflict->our_entry.id, &conflict->their_entry.id) != 0)
 		return 0;
 
-	if ((merged = git_pool_malloc(&diff_list->pool, sizeof(git_index_entry))) == NULL)
+	if ((merged = git_pool_mallocz(&diff_list->pool, sizeof(git_index_entry))) == NULL)
 		return -1;
 
 	if (ours_changed)
@@ -711,7 +711,7 @@ static int merge_conflict_resolve_automerge(
 		(error = git_odb_write(&automerge_oid, odb, result.ptr, result.len, GIT_OBJ_BLOB)) < 0)
 		goto done;
 
-	if ((index_entry = git_pool_malloc(&diff_list->pool, sizeof(git_index_entry))) == NULL)
+	if ((index_entry = git_pool_mallocz(&diff_list->pool, sizeof(git_index_entry))) == NULL)
 	GITERR_CHECK_ALLOC(index_entry);
 
 	index_entry->path = git_pool_strdup(&diff_list->pool, result.path);
@@ -1342,7 +1342,7 @@ static git_merge_diff *merge_diff_from_index_entries(
 	git_merge_diff *conflict;
 	git_pool *pool = &diff_list->pool;
 
-	if ((conflict = git_pool_malloc(pool, sizeof(git_merge_diff))) == NULL)
+	if ((conflict = git_pool_mallocz(pool, sizeof(git_merge_diff))) == NULL)
 		return NULL;
 
 	if (index_entry_dup_pool(&conflict->ancestor_entry, pool, entries[TREE_IDX_ANCESTOR]) < 0 ||
@@ -1383,7 +1383,7 @@ static int merge_diff_list_insert_unmodified(
 	int error = 0;
 	git_index_entry *entry;
 
-	entry = git_pool_malloc(&diff_list->pool, sizeof(git_index_entry));
+	entry = git_pool_mallocz(&diff_list->pool, sizeof(git_index_entry));
 	GITERR_CHECK_ALLOC(entry);
 
 	if ((error = index_entry_dup_pool(entry, &diff_list->pool, tree_items[0])) >= 0)
diff --git a/src/pool.c b/src/pool.c
index fe6c42987..aab63beee 100644
--- a/src/pool.c
+++ b/src/pool.c
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ void git_pool_clear(git_pool *pool)
 	}
 
 	pool->pages = NULL;
-	pool->items = 0;
 }
 
 void git_pool_swap(git_pool *a, git_pool *b)
@@ -73,7 +72,7 @@ static void *pool_alloc_page(git_pool *pool, uint32_t size)
 	size_t alloc_size;
 
 	if (GIT_ADD_SIZET_OVERFLOW(&alloc_size, new_page_size, sizeof(git_pool_page)) ||
-		!(page = git__calloc(1, alloc_size)))
+		!(page = git__malloc(alloc_size)))
 		return NULL;
 
 	page->size = new_page_size;
@@ -81,15 +80,12 @@ static void *pool_alloc_page(git_pool *pool, uint32_t size)
 	page->next = pool->pages;
 
 	pool->pages = page;
-	pool->items++;
 
 	return page->data;
 }
 
-void *git_pool_malloc(git_pool *pool, uint32_t items)
+static void *pool_alloc(git_pool *pool, uint32_t size)
 {
-	const uint32_t size = items * pool->item_size;
-
 	git_pool_page *page = pool->pages;
 	void *ptr = NULL;
 
@@ -98,11 +94,25 @@ void *git_pool_malloc(git_pool *pool, uint32_t items)
 
 	ptr = &page->data[page->size - page->avail];
 	page->avail -= size;
-	pool->items++;
 
 	return ptr;
 }
 
+void *git_pool_malloc(git_pool *pool, uint32_t items)
+{
+	const uint32_t size = items * pool->item_size;
+	return pool_alloc(pool, size);
+}
+
+void *git_pool_mallocz(git_pool *pool, uint32_t items)
+{
+	const uint32_t size = items * pool->item_size;
+	void *ptr = pool_alloc(pool, size);
+	if (ptr)
+		memset(ptr, 0x0, size);
+	return ptr;
+}
+
 char *git_pool_strndup(git_pool *pool, const char *str, size_t n)
 {
 	char *ptr = NULL;
diff --git a/src/pool.h b/src/pool.h
index ef71d4eb6..f9ac86773 100644
--- a/src/pool.h
+++ b/src/pool.h
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ typedef struct {
 	git_pool_page *pages; /* pages with space left */
 	uint32_t item_size;  /* size of single alloc unit in bytes */
 	uint32_t page_size;  /* size of page in bytes */
-	uint32_t items;
 } git_pool;
 
 /**
@@ -66,17 +65,7 @@ extern void git_pool_swap(git_pool *a, git_pool *b);
  * Allocate space for one or more items from a pool.
  */
 extern void *git_pool_malloc(git_pool *pool, uint32_t items);
-
-/**
- * Allocate space and zero it out.
- */
-GIT_INLINE(void *) git_pool_mallocz(git_pool *pool, uint32_t items)
-{
-	void *ptr = git_pool_malloc(pool, items);
-	if (ptr)
-		memset(ptr, 0, (size_t)items * (size_t)pool->item_size);
-	return ptr;
-}
+extern void *git_pool_mallocz(git_pool *pool, uint32_t items);
 
 /**
  * Allocate space and duplicate string data into it.