diff --git a/dmenubar/LICENSE b/dmenubar/LICENSE
index d0c6d64..6ed8ad3 100644
--- a/dmenubar/LICENSE
+++ b/dmenubar/LICENSE
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 MIT/X Consortium License
 
-© 2006-2014 Anselm R Garbe <anselm@garbe.us>
+© 2006-2019 Anselm R Garbe <anselm@garbe.ca>
 © 2006-2008 Sander van Dijk <a.h.vandijk@gmail.com>
 © 2006-2007 Michał Janeczek <janeczek@gmail.com>
 © 2007 Kris Maglione <jg@suckless.org>
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ MIT/X Consortium License
 © 2009 Markus Schnalke <meillo@marmaro.de>
 © 2009 Evan Gates <evan.gates@gmail.com>
 © 2010-2012 Connor Lane Smith <cls@lubutu.com>
-© 2014-2018 Hiltjo Posthuma <hiltjo@codemadness.org>
+© 2014-2019 Hiltjo Posthuma <hiltjo@codemadness.org>
 © 2015-2018 Quentin Rameau <quinq@fifth.space>
 
 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
diff --git a/dmenubar/config.mk b/dmenubar/config.mk
index ae34ad8..0929b4a 100644
--- a/dmenubar/config.mk
+++ b/dmenubar/config.mk
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # dmenu version
-VERSION = 4.8
+VERSION = 4.9
 
 # paths
 PREFIX = /usr/local
diff --git a/dmenubar/drw.c b/dmenubar/drw.c
index c638323..8fd1ca4 100644
--- a/dmenubar/drw.c
+++ b/dmenubar/drw.c
@@ -132,6 +132,19 @@ xfont_create(Drw *drw, const char *fontname, FcPattern *fontpattern)
 		die("no font specified.");
 	}
 
+	/* Do not allow using color fonts. This is a workaround for a BadLength
+	 * error from Xft with color glyphs. Modelled on the Xterm workaround. See
+	 * https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1498269
+	 * https://lists.suckless.org/dev/1701/30932.html
+	 * https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=916349
+	 * and lots more all over the internet.
+	 */
+	FcBool iscol;
+	if(FcPatternGetBool(xfont->pattern, FC_COLOR, 0, &iscol) == FcResultMatch && iscol) {
+		XftFontClose(drw->dpy, xfont);
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
 	font = ecalloc(1, sizeof(Fnt));
 	font->xfont = xfont;
 	font->pattern = pattern;
@@ -200,7 +213,7 @@ drw_scm_create(Drw *drw, const char *clrnames[], size_t clrcount)
 	Clr *ret;
 
 	/* need at least two colors for a scheme */
-	if (!drw || !clrnames || clrcount < 2 || !(ret = ecalloc(clrcount, sizeof(Clr))))
+	if (!drw || !clrnames || clrcount < 2 || !(ret = ecalloc(clrcount, sizeof(XftColor))))
 		return NULL;
 
 	for (i = 0; i < clrcount; i++)
@@ -337,6 +350,7 @@ drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lp
 			fcpattern = FcPatternDuplicate(drw->fonts->pattern);
 			FcPatternAddCharSet(fcpattern, FC_CHARSET, fccharset);
 			FcPatternAddBool(fcpattern, FC_SCALABLE, FcTrue);
+			FcPatternAddBool(fcpattern, FC_COLOR, FcFalse);
 
 			FcConfigSubstitute(NULL, fcpattern, FcMatchPattern);
 			FcDefaultSubstitute(fcpattern);