diff --git a/io/iob_new.c b/io/iob_new.c
index 0b23af4..dfd158f 100644
--- a/io/iob_new.c
+++ b/io/iob_new.c
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include "byte.h"
 #include "iob_internal.h"
 
 io_batch* iob_new(int hint_entries) {
   io_batch* b=(io_batch*)malloc(sizeof(io_batch));
   if (!b) return 0;
+  byte_zero(b,sizeof(io_batch));
   if (hint_entries) {
     if (!array_allocate(&b->b,sizeof(iob_entry),hint_entries)) {
       free(b);
@@ -11,7 +13,5 @@ io_batch* iob_new(int hint_entries) {
     }
     array_trunc(&b->b);
   }
-  b->next=b->bufs=b->files=0;
-  b->bytesleft=0;
   return b;
 }
diff --git a/t.c b/t.c
index 8714ce2..fbb28ab 100644
--- a/t.c
+++ b/t.c
@@ -37,11 +37,11 @@ int64 writecb(int64 fd,const void* buf,uint64 n) {
 }
 
 int main(int argc,char* argv[]) {
-  static io_batch b;
+  io_batch* b=iob_new(1234);
   int64 fd=open("t.c",0);
-  iob_addbuf(&b,"fnord",5);
-  iob_addfile_close(&b,fd,0,7365);
-  iob_write(1,&b,writecb);
+  iob_addbuf(b,"fnord",5);
+  iob_addfile_close(b,fd,0,7365);
+  iob_write(1,b,writecb);
 #if 0
   char dest[1024];
   unsigned long len;