diff --git a/src/rose/rose_build_bytecode.cpp b/src/rose/rose_build_bytecode.cpp
index 13d485ea..98e1ef70 100644
--- a/src/rose/rose_build_bytecode.cpp
+++ b/src/rose/rose_build_bytecode.cpp
@@ -2567,11 +2567,10 @@ u32 writeProgram(build_context &bc, RoseProgram &&program) {
     recordResources(bc.resources, program);
     recordLongLiterals(bc.longLiterals, program);
 
-    u32 len = 0;
-    auto prog_bytecode = writeProgram(bc.engine_blob, program, &len);
-    u32 offset = bc.engine_blob.add(prog_bytecode.get(), len,
-                                    ROSE_INSTR_MIN_ALIGN);
-    DEBUG_PRINTF("prog len %u written at offset %u\n", len, offset);
+    auto prog_bytecode = writeProgram(bc.engine_blob, program);
+    u32 offset = bc.engine_blob.add(prog_bytecode);
+    DEBUG_PRINTF("prog len %zu written at offset %u\n", prog_bytecode.size(),
+                 offset);
     bc.program_cache.emplace(move(program), offset);
     return offset;
 }
diff --git a/src/rose/rose_build_program.cpp b/src/rose/rose_build_program.cpp
index 2fb76c77..bca867f0 100644
--- a/src/rose/rose_build_program.cpp
+++ b/src/rose/rose_build_program.cpp
@@ -639,12 +639,14 @@ OffsetMap makeOffsetMap(const RoseProgram &program, u32 *total_len) {
     return offset_map;
 }
 
-aligned_unique_ptr<char>
-writeProgram(RoseEngineBlob &blob, const RoseProgram &program, u32 *total_len) {
-    const auto offset_map = makeOffsetMap(program, total_len);
-    DEBUG_PRINTF("%zu instructions, len %u\n", program.size(), *total_len);
+bytecode_ptr<char> writeProgram(RoseEngineBlob &blob,
+                                const RoseProgram &program) {
+    u32 total_len = 0;
+    const auto offset_map = makeOffsetMap(program, &total_len);
+    DEBUG_PRINTF("%zu instructions, len %u\n", program.size(), total_len);
 
-    auto bytecode = aligned_zmalloc_unique<char>(*total_len);
+    auto bytecode = make_zeroed_bytecode_ptr<char>(total_len,
+                                                   ROSE_INSTR_MIN_ALIGN);
     char *ptr = bytecode.get();
 
     for (const auto &ri : program) {
diff --git a/src/rose/rose_build_program.h b/src/rose/rose_build_program.h
index 3931f095..06233231 100644
--- a/src/rose/rose_build_program.h
+++ b/src/rose/rose_build_program.h
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 #include "rose_build_impl.h"
 #include "rose_program.h"
 #include "som/som_operation.h"
-#include "util/alloc.h"
+#include "util/bytecode_ptr.h"
 #include "util/container.h"
 #include "util/hash.h"
 #include "util/make_unique.h"
@@ -2328,8 +2328,8 @@ public:
     }
 };
 
-aligned_unique_ptr<char>
-writeProgram(RoseEngineBlob &blob, const RoseProgram &program, u32 *total_len);
+bytecode_ptr<char> writeProgram(RoseEngineBlob &blob,
+                                const RoseProgram &program);
 
 class RoseProgramHash {
 public: