diff --git a/src/daemon.rs b/src/daemon.rs
index df477e5..6b1848d 100644
--- a/src/daemon.rs
+++ b/src/daemon.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 use std::{
-    env, io, mem,
+    env, io,
     ops::Deref,
     os::fd::{AsFd, BorrowedFd, IntoRawFd, OwnedFd, RawFd},
     sync::{
@@ -135,9 +135,6 @@ pub struct Daemon {
 
     // Bijective mapping of [`mio::Token`]s to [`RawFd`]s.
     tokfd: BiHashMap<TokenFd>,
-
-    cmd_buffer: Vec<u8>,
-    next_timeout: Option<Duration>,
 }
 
 /// `tokfd` handling.
@@ -222,6 +219,8 @@ impl Daemon {
             .copied()
     }
 
+    /// Not currently used, but here for completeness.
+    #[expect(dead_code)]
     fn token_for_fd(&self, fd: RawFd) -> Option<Token> {
         self.tokfd
             .get2(&fd)
@@ -267,8 +266,6 @@ impl Daemon {
             poller,
             fd_info,
             tokfd: Default::default(),
-            cmd_buffer: Vec::with_capacity(1024),
-            next_timeout: TIMEOUT_NEVER,
         }
     }
 
@@ -345,16 +342,12 @@ impl Daemon {
 /// Private helpers.
 impl Daemon {
     fn read_cmd(&mut self, fd: &BorrowedFd) -> Result<(), IoError> {
-        if self.cmd_buffer.len() == self.cmd_buffer.capacity() {
-            self.cmd_buffer.reserve(1024);
-        }
+        // FIXME: don't use a new allocation every time.
+        let mut cmd_buffer: Vec<u8> = Vec::with_capacity(1024);
 
-        let _count = rustix::io::read(fd, spare_capacity(&mut self.cmd_buffer))
+        let _count = rustix::io::read(fd, spare_capacity(&mut cmd_buffer))
             .tap_err(|e| error!("read() on daemon fd {fd:?} failed: {e}"))?;
 
-        // So that the loop doesn't borrow from `self`.
-        let mut cmd_buffer = mem::take(&mut self.cmd_buffer);
-
         // The buffer might have existing data from the last read.
         let deserializer = serde_json::Deserializer::from_slice(&cmd_buffer);
         let stream: StreamDeserializer<_, DaemonCmd> = deserializer.into_iter();
@@ -362,16 +355,13 @@ impl Daemon {
             let cmd = match cmd {
                 Ok(cmd) => cmd,
                 Err(e) if e.is_eof() => {
-                    self.next_timeout = Some(Duration::from_secs(4));
-                    warn!("Didn't get a valid daemon command; giving the other side 4 seconds...");
-                    let _ = mem::replace(&mut self.cmd_buffer, cmd_buffer);
+                    warn!("Got EOF before a valid command");
+                    debug!("command buffer was: {:?}", cmd_buffer.as_bstr());
                     return Ok(());
                 },
                 Err(e) => {
                     warn!("error deserializing command: {e}");
                     debug!("command buffer was: {:?}", cmd_buffer.as_bstr());
-                    cmd_buffer.clear();
-                    let _ = mem::replace(&mut self.cmd_buffer, cmd_buffer);
                     // Don't propagate the error unless we have too many.
                     self.fd_error_push(fd.as_raw_fd(), e.into()).tap_err(|e| {
                         error!("Accumulated too many errors for daemon fd {fd:?}: {e}")
@@ -385,9 +375,6 @@ impl Daemon {
             self.dispatch_cmd(cmd).unwrap_or_else(|e| todo!("{e}"));
         }
 
-        cmd_buffer.clear();
-        let _ = mem::replace(&mut self.cmd_buffer, cmd_buffer);
-
         Ok(())
     }
 
@@ -469,25 +456,19 @@ impl Daemon {
                 }
             }
 
-            if let Some(timeout) = self.next_timeout {
-                debug!(
-                    "epoll_wait() with a timeout: {}",
-                    humantime::format_duration(timeout),
-                );
-            }
-
-            match self.poller.poll(&mut events, self.next_timeout.take()) {
+            match self.poller.poll(&mut events, TIMEOUT_NEVER) {
                 Ok(_) => {
                     trace!(
                         "mio::Poller::poll() got events: {:?}",
                         events.iter().size_hint().0,
                     );
                     if events.is_empty() {
-                        warn!("timeout expired");
-                        self.cmd_buffer.clear();
-                    } else {
-                        let _ = self.fd_error_pop(self.poller.as_raw_fd());
+                        unreachable!(
+                            "epoll_wait() with a \"forever\" timeout should never give empty events",
+                        );
                     }
+
+                    let _ = self.fd_error_pop(self.poller.as_raw_fd());
                 },
                 Err(e) if e.kind() == IoErrorKind::Interrupted => {
                     // EINTR is silly.