diff --git a/lib/libc/gen/directory.3 b/lib/libc/gen/directory.3
index 4573d4513fe2..1e864f8dcbc5 100644
--- a/lib/libc/gen/directory.3
+++ b/lib/libc/gen/directory.3
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 .\"     @(#)directory.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
 .\" $FreeBSD$
 .\"
-.Dd August 18, 2013
+.Dd July 28, 2014
 .Dt DIRECTORY 3
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -169,6 +169,10 @@ If the directory is closed and then
 reopened, prior values returned by
 .Fn telldir
 will no longer be valid.
+Values returned by
+.Fn telldir
+are also invalidated by a call to
+.Fn rewinddir .
 .Pp
 The
 .Fn seekdir
@@ -182,13 +186,6 @@ The new position reverts to the one associated with the
 when the
 .Fn telldir
 operation was performed.
-State associated with the token returned by
-.Fn telldir is freed when it is passed to
-.Fn seekdir .
-If you wish return to the same location again,
-then you must create a new token with another
-.Fn telldir
-call.
 .Pp
 The
 .Fn rewinddir
diff --git a/lib/libc/gen/telldir.c b/lib/libc/gen/telldir.c
index 4954b973a915..d72b500b051c 100644
--- a/lib/libc/gen/telldir.c
+++ b/lib/libc/gen/telldir.c
@@ -46,13 +46,6 @@ __FBSDID("$FreeBSD$");
 #include "gen-private.h"
 #include "telldir.h"
 
-/*
- * The option SINGLEUSE may be defined to say that a telldir
- * cookie may be used only once before it is freed. This option
- * is used to avoid having memory usage grow without bound.
- */
-#define SINGLEUSE
-
 /*
  * return a pointer into a directory
  */
@@ -61,18 +54,31 @@ telldir(dirp)
 	DIR *dirp;
 {
 	struct ddloc *lp;
+	long idx;
 
-	if ((lp = (struct ddloc *)malloc(sizeof(struct ddloc))) == NULL)
-		return (-1);
 	if (__isthreaded)
 		_pthread_mutex_lock(&dirp->dd_lock);
-	lp->loc_index = dirp->dd_td->td_loccnt++;
-	lp->loc_seek = dirp->dd_seek;
-	lp->loc_loc = dirp->dd_loc;
-	LIST_INSERT_HEAD(&dirp->dd_td->td_locq, lp, loc_lqe);
+	LIST_FOREACH(lp, &dirp->dd_td->td_locq, loc_lqe) {
+		if (lp->loc_seek == dirp->dd_seek &&
+		    lp->loc_loc == dirp->dd_loc)
+			break;
+	}
+	if (lp == NULL) {
+		lp = malloc(sizeof(struct ddloc));
+		if (lp == NULL) {
+			if (__isthreaded)
+				_pthread_mutex_unlock(&dirp->dd_lock);
+			return (-1);
+		}
+		lp->loc_index = dirp->dd_td->td_loccnt++;
+		lp->loc_seek = dirp->dd_seek;
+		lp->loc_loc = dirp->dd_loc;
+		LIST_INSERT_HEAD(&dirp->dd_td->td_locq, lp, loc_lqe);
+	}
+	idx = lp->loc_index;
 	if (__isthreaded)
 		_pthread_mutex_unlock(&dirp->dd_lock);
-	return (lp->loc_index);
+	return (idx);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -94,7 +100,7 @@ _seekdir(dirp, loc)
 	if (lp == NULL)
 		return;
 	if (lp->loc_loc == dirp->dd_loc && lp->loc_seek == dirp->dd_seek)
-		goto found;
+		return;
 	(void) lseek(dirp->dd_fd, (off_t)lp->loc_seek, SEEK_SET);
 	dirp->dd_seek = lp->loc_seek;
 	dirp->dd_loc = 0;
@@ -103,11 +109,6 @@ _seekdir(dirp, loc)
 		if (dp == NULL)
 			break;
 	}
-found:
-#ifdef SINGLEUSE
-	LIST_REMOVE(lp, loc_lqe);
-	free((caddr_t)lp);
-#endif
 }
 
 /*