diff --git a/util/options.cc b/util/options.cc
index f872bb4b3..c65888efa 100644
--- a/util/options.cc
+++ b/util/options.cc
@@ -371,15 +371,15 @@ void
 output_options_t::add_options (option_parser_t *parser)
 {
   const char *text;
-  char *text_free = NULL;
 
   if (NULL == supported_formats)
     text = "Set output format";
   else
   {
     char *items = g_strjoinv ("/", const_cast<char **> (supported_formats));
-    text = text_free = g_strdup_printf ("Set output format\n\n    Supported formats are: %s", items);
+    text = g_strdup_printf ("Set output format\n\n    Supported output formats are: %s", items);
     g_free (items);
+    parser->free_later ((char *) text);
   }
 
   GOptionEntry entries[] =
@@ -393,8 +393,6 @@ output_options_t::add_options (option_parser_t *parser)
 		     "Output options:",
 		     "Options controlling the output",
 		     this);
-
-  g_free (text_free);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/util/options.hh b/util/options.hh
index a236a5df8..443770742 100644
--- a/util/options.hh
+++ b/util/options.hh
@@ -85,11 +85,14 @@ struct option_parser_t
     memset (this, 0, sizeof (*this));
     usage_str = usage;
     context = g_option_context_new (usage);
+    to_free = g_ptr_array_new ();
 
     add_main_options ();
   }
   ~option_parser_t (void) {
     g_option_context_free (context);
+    g_ptr_array_foreach (to_free, (GFunc) g_free, NULL);
+    g_ptr_array_free (to_free, TRUE);
   }
 
   void add_main_options (void);
@@ -100,6 +103,10 @@ struct option_parser_t
 		  const gchar    *help_description,
 		  option_group_t *option_group);
 
+  void free_later (char *p) {
+    g_ptr_array_add (to_free, p);
+  }
+
   void parse (int *argc, char ***argv);
 
   G_GNUC_NORETURN void usage (void) {
@@ -107,8 +114,10 @@ struct option_parser_t
     exit (1);
   }
 
+  private:
   const char *usage_str;
   GOptionContext *context;
+  GPtrArray *to_free;
 };