lib/PublicInbox/GzipFilter.pm    | 13 ++++++-------
 lib/PublicInbox/View.pm          | 21 ++++++++-------------
 lib/PublicInbox/ViewVCS.pm       |  3 ++-
 lib/PublicInbox/WwwAtomStream.pm |  8 ++++----

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/GzipFilter.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/GzipFilter.pm
index 77d570b677d6fb3c6ecdf8f4e35493c687537107..eb0046ce3f3a777916c4cb3cde33b7194799cf5c 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/GzipFilter.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/GzipFilter.pm
@@ -130,11 +130,11 @@
 # similar to ->translate; use this when we're sure we know we have
 # more data to buffer after this
 sub zmore {
-	my $self = $_[0]; # $_[1] => input
+	my $self = shift; # $_[1] => input
 	http_out($self);
 	my $err;
-	for (delete $self->{obuf}, @_[1..$#_]) {
-		$err = $self->{gz}->deflate($_ // next, $self->{zbuf});
+	for (@_) {
+		$err = $self->{gz}->deflate($_, $self->{zbuf});
 		die "gzip->deflate: $err" if $err != Z_OK;
 	}
 	undef;
@@ -142,13 +142,12 @@ }
 
 # flushes and returns the final bit of gzipped data
 sub zflush ($;@) {
-	my $self = $_[0]; # $_[1..Inf] => final input (optional)
+	my $self = shift; # $_[1..Inf] => final input (optional)
 	my $zbuf = delete $self->{zbuf};
 	my $gz = delete $self->{gz};
 	my $err;
-	# it's a bug iff $gz is undef w/ $obuf or $_[1..]
-	for (delete $self->{obuf}, @_[1..$#_]) {
-		$err = $gz->deflate($_ // next, $zbuf);
+	for (@_) { # it's a bug iff $gz is undef if @_ isn't empty, here:
+		$err = $gz->deflate($_, $zbuf);
 		die "gzip->deflate: $err" if $err != Z_OK;
 	}
 	$gz // return ''; # not a bug, recursing on DS->write failure
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
index 3dbf8bac33f8c9ecc6eb3e19fb5b406f718aaf7a..630f1e42915e0635c4aa27adeac95765b7a02914 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ 			$eml->each_part(\&add_text_body, $ctx, 1);
 			$ctx->zmore('</pre><hr>');
 		}
 		html_footer($ctx, $ctx->{first_hdr}) if !$ctx->{smsg};
-		delete($ctx->{obuf}) // \'';
+		\''; # XXX TODO cleanup
 	} else { # called by WwwStream::async_next or getline
 		$ctx->{smsg}; # may be undef
 	}
@@ -245,9 +245,8 @@
 	# scan through all parts, looking for displayable text
 	$ctx->{mhref} = $mhref;
 	$ctx->{changed_href} = "#e$id"; # for diffstat "files? changed,"
-	$ctx->{obuf} = \$rv;
+	$ctx->zmore($rv); # XXX $rv is small, reuse below
 	$eml->each_part(\&add_text_body, $ctx, 1); # expensive
-	$ctx->zmore; # TODO: remove once add_text_body is updated
 
 	# add the footer
 	$rv = "\n<a\nhref=#$id_m\nid=e$id>^</a> ".
@@ -560,13 +559,9 @@ 	# $p - from each_part: [ Email::MIME-like, depth, $idx ]
 	my ($part, $depth, $idx) = @$p;
 	my $ct = $part->content_type || 'text/plain';
 	my $fn = $part->filename;
-	my $rv = $ctx->{obuf} //= \(my $obuf = '');
 	my ($s, $err) = msg_part_text($part, $ct);
-	$s // return $$rv .= (attach_link($ctx, $ct, $p, $fn) // '');
-	if ($part->{is_submsg}) {
-		$$rv .= submsg_hdr($ctx, $part);
-		$$rv .= "\n";
-	}
+	$s // return $ctx->zmore(attach_link($ctx, $ct, $p, $fn) // '');
+	my $buf = $part->{is_submsg} ? submsg_hdr($ctx, $part)."\n" : '';
 
 	# makes no difference to browsers, and don't screw up filename
 	# link generation in diffs with the extra '%0D'
@@ -614,10 +609,11 @@ 	my @sections = PublicInbox::MsgIter::split_quotes($s);
 	undef $s; # free memory
 	if (defined($fn) || ($depth > 0 && !$part->{is_submsg}) || $err) {
 		# badly-encoded message with $err? tell the world about it!
-		$$rv .= attach_link($ctx, $ct, $p, $fn, $err);
-		$$rv .= "\n";
+		$buf .= attach_link($ctx, $ct, $p, $fn, $err) . "\n";
 	}
 	delete $part->{bdy}; # save memory
+	$ctx->zmore($buf);
+	undef $buf;
 	for my $cur (@sections) { # $cur may be huge
 		if ($cur =~ /\A>/) {
 			# we use a <span> here to allow users to specify
@@ -722,7 +718,6 @@ 		$hbuf .= 'References: <'.join(">\n\t<", @$refs).">\n" if @$refs;
 	}
 	$ctx->{-linkify}->linkify_mids('..', \$hbuf); # escapes HTML
 	$ctx->zmore($hbuf .= "\n");
-	${$ctx->{obuf}} = ''; # TODO remove
 	1;
 }
 
@@ -842,7 +837,7 @@ 	}
 	$foot .= qq(<a\nhref="#R">reply</a>);
 	# $skel may be big for big threads, don't append it to $foot
 	$skel .= '</pre>' . ($related // '');
-	$ctx->zmore($foot, $skel .= msg_reply($ctx, $hdr)); # flushes obuf
+	$ctx->zmore($foot, $skel .= msg_reply($ctx, $hdr));
 }
 
 sub ghost_parent {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/ViewVCS.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/ViewVCS.pm
index d3ac1a7d5d111e40a8c32babcfe81eac312370b9..57ab378d182098bb76fa106e7950c65033847558 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/ViewVCS.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/ViewVCS.pm
@@ -205,7 +205,8 @@ 	if (-s $fh > $MAX_SIZE) {
 		$ctx->zmore("---\n patch is too large to show\n");
 	} else { # prepare flush_diff:
 		read($fh, $x, -s _);
-		$ctx->{obuf} = \$bdy;
+		$ctx->zmore($bdy);
+		undef $bdy;
 		$ctx->{-apfx} = $ctx->{-spfx} = $upfx;
 		$x =~ s/\r?\n/\n/gs;
 		$ctx->{-anchors} = {} if $x =~ /^diff --git /sm;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/WwwAtomStream.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/WwwAtomStream.pm
index 09c79a8a1cba1ebbcab244fe853eadb7829a2362..cdfbf3931a9491ba9e967bb230a84cdcce1ed488 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/WwwAtomStream.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/WwwAtomStream.pm
@@ -146,15 +146,15 @@ 	my ($email) = PublicInbox::Address::emails($from);
 	my $name = ascii_html(join(', ', PublicInbox::Address::names($from)));
 	$email = ascii_html($email // $ctx->{ibx}->{-primary_address});
 
-	my $s = delete($ctx->{emit_header}) ? atom_header($ctx, $title) : '';
-	$s .= "<entry><author><name>$name</name><email>$email</email>" .
+	$ctx->zmore(
+		(delete($ctx->{emit_header}) ? atom_header($ctx, $title) : '').
+		"<entry><author><name>$name</name><email>$email</email>" .
 		"</author>$title$updated" .
 		qq(<link\nhref="$href"/>).
 		"<id>$uuid</id>$irt" .
 		qq{<content\ntype="xhtml">} .
 		qq{<div\nxmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">} .
-		qq(<pre\nstyle="white-space:pre-wrap">);
-	$ctx->{obuf} = \$s;
+		qq(<pre\nstyle="white-space:pre-wrap">));
 	$ctx->{mhref} = $href;
 	$ctx->{changed_href} = "${href}#related";
 	$eml->each_part(\&PublicInbox::View::add_text_body, $ctx, 1);