--- a/netio.c	Mon Mar 02 21:17:41 2015 +0800
+++ b/netio.c	Tue Apr 14 20:44:30 2015 +0800
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
 
 	for (r = c->res_iter; r; r = r->ai_next)
 	{
-		assert(c->sock == -1);
+		dropbear_assert(c->sock == -1);
 
 		c->sock = socket(c->res_iter->ai_family, c->res_iter->ai_socktype, c->res_iter->ai_protocol);
 		if (c->sock < 0) {
@@ -99,11 +99,16 @@
 		message.msg_namelen = r->ai_addrlen;
 
 		if (c->writequeue) {
-			int iovlen; /* Linux msg_iovlen is a size_t */
-			message.msg_iov = packet_queue_to_iovec(c->writequeue, &iovlen);
+			/* 6 is arbitrary, enough to hold initial packets */
+			int iovlen = 6; /* Linux msg_iovlen is a size_t */
+			struct iovec iov[6];
+			packet_queue_to_iovec(c->writequeue, iov, &iovlen);
+			message.msg_iov = iov;
 			message.msg_iovlen = iovlen;
 			res = sendmsg(c->sock, &message, MSG_FASTOPEN);
 			if (res < 0 && errno != EINPROGRESS) {
+				m_free(c->errstring);
+				c->errstring = m_strdup(strerror(errno));
 				/* Not entirely sure which kind of errors are normal - 2.6.32 seems to 
 				return EPIPE for any (nonblocking?) sendmsg(). just fall back */
 				TRACE(("sendmsg tcp_fastopen failed, falling back. %s", strerror(errno)));
@@ -112,7 +117,6 @@
 				/* Set to NULL to avoid trying again */
 				c->writequeue = NULL;
 			}
-			m_free(message.msg_iov);
 			packet_queue_consume(c->writequeue, res);
 		}
 #endif
@@ -124,6 +128,8 @@
 
 		if (res < 0 && errno != EINPROGRESS) {
 			/* failure */
+			m_free(c->errstring);
+			c->errstring = m_strdup(strerror(errno));
 			close(c->sock);
 			c->sock = -1;
 			continue;
@@ -237,7 +243,7 @@
 			c->sock = -1;
 
 			m_free(c->errstring);
-			c->errstring = strerror(val);
+			c->errstring = m_strdup(strerror(val));
 		} else {
 			/* New connection has been established */
 			c->cb(DROPBEAR_SUCCESS, c->sock, c->cb_data, NULL);
@@ -254,8 +260,7 @@
 	c->writequeue = writequeue;
 }
 
-struct iovec * packet_queue_to_iovec(struct Queue *queue, int *ret_iov_count) {
-	struct iovec *iov = NULL;
+void packet_queue_to_iovec(struct Queue *queue, struct iovec *iov, unsigned int *iov_count) {
 	struct Link *l;
 	unsigned int i;
 	int len;
@@ -265,10 +270,9 @@
 	#define IOV_MAX UIO_MAXIOV
 	#endif
 
-	*ret_iov_count = MIN(queue->count, IOV_MAX);
+	*iov_count = MIN(MIN(queue->count, IOV_MAX), *iov_count);
 
-	iov = m_malloc(sizeof(*iov) * *ret_iov_count);
-	for (l = queue->head, i = 0; l; l = l->link, i++)
+	for (l = queue->head, i = 0; i < *iov_count; l = l->link, i++)
 	{
 		writebuf = (buffer*)l->item;
 		len = writebuf->len - 1 - writebuf->pos;
@@ -278,8 +282,6 @@
 		iov[i].iov_base = buf_getptr(writebuf, len);
 		iov[i].iov_len = len;
 	}
-
-	return iov;
 }
 
 void packet_queue_consume(struct Queue *queue, ssize_t written) {