diff --git a/http_server.c b/http_server.c
index 770d36f9..fea8b4eb 100644
--- a/http_server.c
+++ b/http_server.c
@@ -1909,8 +1909,8 @@ static void http_server_poll(struct sched_ent *alarm)
   else
     abort(); // should not be any other POLL bits set
   // Any of the above calls could change the phase to DONE.
-  if (r->phase == DONE && r->free)
-    r->free(r); // after this, *r is no longer valid
+  if (r->phase == DONE && r->release)
+    r->release(r); // after this, *r is no longer valid
 }
 
 /* Copy the array of byte ranges, closing it (converting all ranges to CLOSED) using the supplied
diff --git a/http_server.h b/http_server.h
index c567c148..f3a91720 100644
--- a/http_server.h
+++ b/http_server.h
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ struct http_request {
   // The following control the lifetime of this struct.
   enum http_request_phase { RECEIVE, TRANSMIT, PAUSE, DONE } phase;
   void (*finalise)(struct http_request *);
-  void (*free)(void*);
+  void (*release)(void*);
   // Identify request from others being run.  Monotonic counter feeds it.  Only
   // used for debugging when we write post-<uuid>.log files for multi-part form
   // requests.
diff --git a/httpd.c b/httpd.c
index bd059ebd..e1e74950 100644
--- a/httpd.c
+++ b/httpd.c
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ void httpd_server_poll(struct sched_ent *alarm)
 	request->http.debug = INDIRECT_CONFIG_DEBUG(httpd);
 	request->http.disable_tx = INDIRECT_CONFIG_DEBUG(nohttptx);
 	request->http.finalise = httpd_server_finalise_http_request;
-	request->http.free = free;
+	request->http.release = free;
 	request->http.idle_timeout = RHIZOME_IDLE_TIMEOUT;
 	http_request_init(&request->http, sock);
       }
diff --git a/log.c b/log.c
index 0e4ee6c2..a629835e 100644
--- a/log.c
+++ b/log.c
@@ -329,6 +329,8 @@ static void _log_software_version(_log_iterator *it, int level)
 static int _log_current_config(_log_iterator *it, int level)
 {
   if (!cf_limbo) {
+    // if formatting config causes anything else to be logged, ignore it.
+    cf_limbo=1;
     struct cf_om_node *root = NULL;
     int ret = cf_fmt_config_main(&root, &config);
     if (ret == CFERROR) {
@@ -348,6 +350,7 @@ static int _log_current_config(_log_iterator *it, int level)
     }
     cf_om_free_node(&root);
     it->state->config_logged = 1;
+    cf_limbo=0;
   }
   return 1;
 }
diff --git a/mem.c b/mem.c
index 43b60ba8..57a8004d 100644
--- a/mem.c
+++ b/mem.c
@@ -84,6 +84,6 @@ void *_serval_debug_calloc(unsigned int bytes, unsigned int count, struct __sour
 
 void _serval_debug_free(void *p, struct __sourceloc __whence)
 {
+  _DEBUGF("free(%p)", p);
   free(p);
-  _DEBUGF("free(%p)", p); 
 }
diff --git a/overlay_buffer.c b/overlay_buffer.c
index dc495d41..d16e6967 100644
--- a/overlay_buffer.c
+++ b/overlay_buffer.c
@@ -189,33 +189,7 @@ ssize_t _ob_makespace(struct __sourceloc __whence, struct overlay_buffer *b, siz
   if (newSize>65536 && (newSize&65535))
     newSize+=65536-(newSize&65535);
   DEBUGF(overlaybuffer, "realloc(b->bytes=%p, newSize=%zu)", b->bytes, newSize);
-  /* XXX OSX realloc() seems to be able to corrupt things if the heap is not happy when calling realloc(), making debugging memory corruption much harder.
-    So will do a three-stage malloc,bcopy,free to see if we can tease bugs out that way. */
-  /*
-    unsigned char *r=realloc(b->bytes,newSize);
-    if (!r) return WHY("realloc() failed");
-    b->bytes=r; 
-  */
-#ifdef MALLOC_PARANOIA
-#warning adding lots of padding to try to catch overruns
-  if (b->bytes) {
-    int i;
-    int corrupt=0;
-    for(i=0;i<4096;i++) if (b->bytes[b->allocSize+i]!=0xbd) corrupt++;
-    if (corrupt) {
-      WHYF("!!!!!! %d corrupted bytes in overrun catch tray", corrupt);
-      dump("overrun catch tray",&b->bytes[b->allocSize],4096);
-      sleep_ms(36000000);
-    }
-  }
-  unsigned char *new = emalloc(newSize+4096);
-  {
-    int i;
-    for(i=0;i<4096;i++) new[newSize+i]=0xbd;
-  }
-#else
   unsigned char *new = emalloc(newSize);
-#endif
   if (!new)
     return 0;
   if (b->position)
diff --git a/rhizome.c b/rhizome.c
index 9a577112..a1178412 100644
--- a/rhizome.c
+++ b/rhizome.c
@@ -714,8 +714,8 @@ const char *rhizome_payload_status_message_nonnull(enum rhizome_payload_status s
 
 void rhizome_bundle_result_free(struct rhizome_bundle_result *resultp)
 {
-  if (resultp->free) {
-    resultp->free((void *)resultp->message);
+  if (resultp->release) {
+    resultp->release((void *)resultp->message);
   }
   *resultp = INVALID_RHIZOME_BUNDLE_RESULT;
 }
@@ -788,7 +788,7 @@ struct rhizome_bundle_result _rhizome_bundle_result_strdup(struct __sourceloc __
   struct rhizome_bundle_result result = INVALID_RHIZOME_BUNDLE_RESULT;
   result.status = status;
   result.message = str_edup(message);
-  result.free = free;
+  result.release = free;
   log_rhizome_bundle_result(__whence, result);
   return result;
 }
@@ -800,7 +800,7 @@ struct rhizome_bundle_result _rhizome_bundle_result_sprintf(struct __sourceloc _
   strbuf sb;
   STRBUF_ALLOCA_FIT(sb, 200, strbuf_va_printf(sb, fmt));
   result.message = str_edup(strbuf_str(sb));
-  result.free = free;
+  result.release = free;
   log_rhizome_bundle_result(__whence, result);
   return result;
 }
diff --git a/rhizome.h b/rhizome.h
index 84f7a81f..785d29af 100644
--- a/rhizome.h
+++ b/rhizome.h
@@ -410,10 +410,10 @@ const char *rhizome_bundle_status_message_nonnull(enum rhizome_bundle_status);
 struct rhizome_bundle_result {
     enum rhizome_bundle_status status;
     const char *message;
-    void (*free)(void *); // call r.free(r.message) before destroying r
+    void (*release)(void *); // call r.release(r.message) before destroying r
 };
 
-#define INVALID_RHIZOME_BUNDLE_RESULT ((struct rhizome_bundle_result){ .status = INVALID_RHIZOME_BUNDLE_STATUS, .message = NULL, .free = NULL })
+#define INVALID_RHIZOME_BUNDLE_RESULT ((struct rhizome_bundle_result){ .status = INVALID_RHIZOME_BUNDLE_STATUS, .message = NULL, .release = NULL })
 
 // Call this before discarding a struct rhizome_bundle_result.
 void rhizome_bundle_result_free(struct rhizome_bundle_result *);