diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 80c54a3d..263e1880 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@ HISTORY
 
   ++ New features:
 
+  2009-02-11 Simon Goldschmidt (suggested by Gottfried Spitaler)
+  * opt.h, memp.h/.c: added MEMP_MEM_MALLOC to use mem_malloc/mem_free instead
+  of the pool allocator (can save code size with MEM_LIBC_MALLOC if libc-malloc
+  is otherwise used)
+
   2009-01-28 Jonathan Larmour (suggested by Bill Bauerbach)
   * ipv4/inet_chksum.c, ipv4/lwip/inet_chksum.h: inet_chksum_pseudo_partial()
   is only used by UDPLITE at present, so conditionalise it.
diff --git a/src/core/memp.c b/src/core/memp.c
index 16a91894..01793ab5 100644
--- a/src/core/memp.c
+++ b/src/core/memp.c
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@
 
 #include <string.h>
 
+#if !MEMP_MEM_MALLOC /* don't build if not configured for use in lwipopts.h */
+
 struct memp {
   struct memp *next;
 #if MEMP_OVERFLOW_CHECK
@@ -109,8 +111,14 @@ struct memp {
  *  Elements form a linked list. */
 static struct memp *memp_tab[MEMP_MAX];
 
+#else /* MEMP_MEM_MALLOC */
+
+#define MEMP_ALIGN_SIZE(x) (LWIP_MEM_ALIGN_SIZE(x))
+
+#endif /* MEMP_MEM_MALLOC */
+
 /** This array holds the element sizes of each pool. */
-#if !MEM_USE_POOLS
+#if !MEM_USE_POOLS && !MEMP_MEM_MALLOC
 static
 #endif
 const u16_t memp_sizes[MEMP_MAX] = {
@@ -118,6 +126,8 @@ const u16_t memp_sizes[MEMP_MAX] = {
 #include "lwip/memp_std.h"
 };
 
+#if !MEMP_MEM_MALLOC /* don't build if not configured for use in lwipopts.h */
+
 /** This array holds the number of elements in each pool. */
 static const u16_t memp_num[MEMP_MAX] = {
 #define LWIP_MEMPOOL(name,num,size,desc)  (num),
@@ -368,3 +378,5 @@ memp_free(memp_t type, void *mem)
 
   SYS_ARCH_UNPROTECT(old_level);
 }
+
+#endif /* MEMP_MEM_MALLOC */
diff --git a/src/include/lwip/memp.h b/src/include/lwip/memp.h
index a0438633..45b1f39b 100644
--- a/src/include/lwip/memp.h
+++ b/src/include/lwip/memp.h
@@ -73,10 +73,22 @@ typedef enum {
    We use this helper type and these defines so we can avoid using const memp_t values */
 #define MEMP_POOL_FIRST ((memp_t) MEMP_POOL_HELPER_FIRST)
 #define MEMP_POOL_LAST   ((memp_t) MEMP_POOL_HELPER_LAST)
-
-extern const u16_t memp_sizes[MEMP_MAX];
 #endif /* MEM_USE_POOLS */
 
+#if MEMP_MEM_MALLOC || MEM_USE_POOLS
+extern const u16_t memp_sizes[MEMP_MAX];
+#endif /* MEMP_MEM_MALLOC || MEM_USE_POOLS */
+
+#if MEMP_MEM_MALLOC
+
+#include "mem.h"
+
+#define memp_init()
+#define memp_malloc(type)     mem_malloc(memp_sizes[type])
+#define memp_free(type, mem)  mem_free(mem)
+
+#else /* MEMP_MEM_MALLOC */
+
 void  memp_init(void);
 
 #if MEMP_OVERFLOW_CHECK
@@ -87,6 +99,8 @@ void *memp_malloc(memp_t type);
 #endif
 void  memp_free(memp_t type, void *mem);
 
+#endif /* MEMP_MEM_MALLOC */
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/src/include/lwip/opt.h b/src/include/lwip/opt.h
index 0eb57b6f..907a9582 100644
--- a/src/include/lwip/opt.h
+++ b/src/include/lwip/opt.h
@@ -98,6 +98,15 @@
 #define MEM_LIBC_MALLOC                 0
 #endif
 
+/**
+* MEMP_MEM_MALLOC==1: Use mem_malloc/mem_free instead of the lwip pool allocator.
+* Especially useful with MEM_LIBC_MALLOC but handle with care regarding execution
+* speed and usage from interrupts!
+*/
+#ifndef MEMP_MEM_MALLOC
+#define MEMP_MEM_MALLOC                 0
+#endif
+
 /**
  * MEM_ALIGNMENT: should be set to the alignment of the CPU
  *    4 byte alignment -> #define MEM_ALIGNMENT 4
@@ -1120,7 +1129,7 @@
  */
 #ifndef RECV_BUFSIZE_DEFAULT
 #define RECV_BUFSIZE_DEFAULT            INT_MAX
-#endif /* RECV_BUFSIZE_DEFAULT */
+#endif
 
 /**
  * SO_REUSE==1: Enable SO_REUSEADDR and SO_REUSEPORT options. DO NOT USE!