diff --git a/alloc_darwin.m b/alloc_darwin.m
index 4b768b66..df29566c 100644
--- a/alloc_darwin.m
+++ b/alloc_darwin.m
@@ -1,27 +1,34 @@
 // 4 december 2014
+#import <stdio.h>
 #import "uipriv_darwin.h"
 
 // TODO is there a better alternative to NSCAssert()? preferably a built-in allocator that panics on out of memory for us?
 
-void *uiAlloc(size_t size)
+void *uiAlloc(size_t size, const char *type)
 {
 	void *out;
 
 	out = malloc(size);
 	NSCAssert(out != NULL, @"out of memory in uiAlloc()");
 	memset(out, 0, size);
+#ifdef uiLogAllocations
+	fprintf(stderr, "%p alloc %s\n", out, type);
+#endif
 	return out;
 }
 
-void *uiRealloc(void *p, size_t size)
+void *uiRealloc(void *p, size_t size, const char *type)
 {
 	void *out;
 
 	if (p == NULL)
-		return uiAlloc(size);
+		return uiAlloc(size, type);
 	out = realloc(p, size);
 	NSCAssert(out != NULL, @"out of memory in uiRealloc()");
 	// TODO zero the extra memory
+#ifdef uiLogAllocations
+	fprintf(stderr, "%p realloc %p\n", p, out);
+#endif
 	return out;
 }
 
@@ -30,4 +37,7 @@ void uiFree(void *p)
 	if (p == NULL)
 		return;
 	free(p);
+#ifdef uiLogAllocations
+	fprintf(stderr, "%p free\n", p);
+#endif
 }
diff --git a/alloc_unix.c b/alloc_unix.c
index f956bb2e..238cf39e 100644
--- a/alloc_unix.c
+++ b/alloc_unix.c
@@ -1,18 +1,36 @@
 // 7 april 2015
+#include <stdio.h>
 #include "uipriv_unix.h"
 
-void *uiAlloc(size_t size)
+void *uiAlloc(size_t size, const char *type)
 {
-	return g_malloc0(size);
+	void *out;
+
+	out = g_malloc0(size);
+#ifdef uiLogAllocations
+	fprintf(stderr, "%p alloc %s\n", out, type);
+#endif
+	return out;
 }
 
-void *uiRealloc(void *p, size_t size)
+void *uiRealloc(void *p, size_t size, const char *type)
 {
+	void *out;
+
+	if (p == NULL)
+		return uiAlloc(size, type);
 	// TODO fill with 0s
-	return g_realloc(p, size);
+	out = g_realloc(p, size);
+#ifdef uiLogAllocations
+	fprintf(stderr, "%p realloc %p\n", p, out);
+#endif
+	return out;
 }
 
 void uiFree(void *p)
 {
 	g_free(p);
+#ifdef uiLogAllocations
+	fprintf(stderr, "%p free\n", p);
+#endif
 }
diff --git a/alloc_windows.c b/alloc_windows.c
index 7922d5d2..55ebea70 100644
--- a/alloc_windows.c
+++ b/alloc_windows.c
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 // passing NULL to tableRealloc() acts like tableAlloc()
 // passing NULL to tableFree() is a no-op
 
-void *uiAlloc(size_t size)
+void *uiAlloc(size_t size, const char *type)
 {
 	void *out;
 
@@ -15,19 +15,25 @@ void *uiAlloc(size_t size)
 	if (out == NULL)
 		abort();	// TODO figure this part out
 	ZeroMemory(out, size);
+#ifdef uiLogAllocations
+	fprintf(stderr, "%p alloc %s\n", out, type);
+#endif
 	return out;
 }
 
-void *uiRealloc(void *p, size_t size)
+void *uiRealloc(void *p, size_t size, const char *type)
 {
 	void *out;
 
 	if (p == NULL)
-		return uiAlloc(size);
+		return uiAlloc(size, type);
 	out = realloc(p, size);
 	if (out == NULL)
 		abort();
 	// TODO zero the extra memory
+#ifdef uiLogAllocations
+	fprintf(stderr, "%p realloc %p\n", p, out);
+#endif
 	return out;
 }
 
@@ -36,4 +42,7 @@ void uiFree(void *p)
 	if (p == NULL)
 		return;
 	free(p);
+#ifdef uiLogAllocations
+	fprintf(stderr, "%p free\n", p);
+#endif
 }
diff --git a/container_unix.c b/container_unix.c
index 099944b8..51926398 100644
--- a/container_unix.c
+++ b/container_unix.c
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ G_DEFINE_TYPE(uiContainer, uiContainer, GTK_TYPE_CONTAINER)
 
 static void uiContainer_init(uiContainer *c)
 {
+#ifdef uiLogAllocations
+	fprintf(stderr, "%p alloc uiContainer\n", c);
+#endif
 	c->children = g_ptr_array_new();
 	gtk_widget_set_has_window(GTK_WIDGET(c), FALSE);
 }
@@ -18,6 +21,9 @@ static void uiContainer_dispose(GObject *obj)
 static void uiContainer_finalize(GObject *obj)
 {
 	G_OBJECT_CLASS(uiContainer_parent_class)->finalize(obj);
+#ifdef uiLogAllocations
+	fprintf(stderr, "%p free\n", obj);
+#endif
 }
 
 static void uiContainer_add(GtkContainer *container, GtkWidget *widget)
diff --git a/stack.c b/stack.c
index 55dc384f..433c6b5c 100644
--- a/stack.c
+++ b/stack.c
@@ -188,10 +188,10 @@ void uiStackAdd(uiControl *st, uiControl *c, int stretchy)
 
 	if (s->len >= s->cap) {
 		s->cap += stackCapGrow;
-		s->controls = (uiControl **) uiRealloc(s->controls, s->cap * sizeof (uiControl *));
-		s->stretchy = (int *) uiRealloc(s->stretchy, s->cap * sizeof (int));
-		s->width = (intmax_t *) uiRealloc(s->width, s->cap * sizeof (intmax_t));
-		s->height = (intmax_t *) uiRealloc(s->height, s->cap * sizeof (intmax_t));
+		s->controls = (uiControl **) uiRealloc(s->controls, s->cap * sizeof (uiControl *), "uiControl *[]");
+		s->stretchy = (int *) uiRealloc(s->stretchy, s->cap * sizeof (int), "int[]");
+		s->width = (intmax_t *) uiRealloc(s->width, s->cap * sizeof (intmax_t), "intmax_t[]");
+		s->height = (intmax_t *) uiRealloc(s->height, s->cap * sizeof (intmax_t), "intmax_t[]");
 	}
 	s->controls[s->len] = c;
 	s->stretchy[s->len] = stretchy;
diff --git a/uipriv.h b/uipriv.h
index ccd72e84..2999d0cf 100644
--- a/uipriv.h
+++ b/uipriv.h
@@ -18,7 +18,10 @@ struct uiControl {
 	void (*resize)(uiControl *, intmax_t, intmax_t, intmax_t, intmax_t, uiSizing *);
 };
 
-extern void *uiAlloc(size_t);
-#define uiNew(T) ((T *) uiAlloc(sizeof (T)))
-extern void *uiRealloc(void *, size_t);
+// TODO write this comment
+#define uiLogAllocations
+
+extern void *uiAlloc(size_t, const char *);
+#define uiNew(T) ((T *) uiAlloc(sizeof (T), #T ))
+extern void *uiRealloc(void *, size_t, const char *);
 extern void uiFree(void *);
diff --git a/util_windows.c b/util_windows.c
index 8e0532b5..4f883b97 100644
--- a/util_windows.c
+++ b/util_windows.c
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ WCHAR *toUTF16(const char *str)
 	n = MBTWC(str, NULL, 0);
 	if (n == 0)
 		logLastError("error figuring out number of characters to convert to in toUTF16()");
-	wstr = (WCHAR *) uiAlloc(n * sizeof (WCHAR));
+	wstr = (WCHAR *) uiAlloc(n * sizeof (WCHAR), "WCHAR[]");
 	if (MBTWC(str, wstr, n) != n)
 		logLastError("error converting from UTF-8 to UTF-16 in toUTF16()");
 	return wstr;
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ intmax_t uiWindowsWindowTextWidth(HWND hwnd)
 	len = GetWindowTextLengthW(hwnd);
 	if (len == 0)		// no text; nothing to do
 		return 0;
-	text = (WCHAR *) uiAlloc((len + 1) * sizeof (WCHAR));
+	text = (WCHAR *) uiAlloc((len + 1) * sizeof (WCHAR), "WCHAR[]");
 	if (GetWindowText(hwnd, text, len + 1) == 0)		// should only happen on error given explicit test for len == 0 above
 		logLastError("error getting window text in uiWindowsWindowTextWidth()");
 	dc = GetDC(hwnd);