diff --git a/Godeps/Godeps.json b/Godeps/Godeps.json
index 86e993317..b9beea618 100644
--- a/Godeps/Godeps.json
+++ b/Godeps/Godeps.json
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@
 		},
 		{
 			"ImportPath": "github.com/jbenet/go-msgio",
-			"Rev": "b4f3f1e1c7ec0cbf2fe35d8a45d1c253d224dc72"
+			"Rev": "9399b44f6bf265b30bedaf2af8c0604bbc8d5275"
 		},
 		{
 			"ImportPath": "github.com/jbenet/go-multiaddr",
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/limit.go b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/limit.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bce33cff1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/limit.go
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+package msgio
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"io"
+	"sync"
+)
+
+// LimitedReader wraps an io.Reader with a msgio framed reader. The LimitedReader
+// will return a reader which will io.EOF when the msg length is done.
+func LimitedReader(r io.Reader) (io.Reader, error) {
+	l, err := ReadLen(r, nil)
+	return io.LimitReader(r, int64(l)), err
+}
+
+// LimitedWriter wraps an io.Writer with a msgio framed writer. It is the inverse
+// of LimitedReader: it will buffer all writes until "Flush" is called. When Flush
+// is called, it will write the size of the buffer first, flush the buffer, reset
+// the buffer, and begin accept more incoming writes.
+func NewLimitedWriter(w io.Writer) *LimitedWriter {
+	return &LimitedWriter{W: w}
+}
+
+type LimitedWriter struct {
+	W io.Writer
+	B bytes.Buffer
+	M sync.Mutex
+}
+
+func (w *LimitedWriter) Write(buf []byte) (n int, err error) {
+	w.M.Lock()
+	n, err = w.B.Write(buf)
+	w.M.Unlock()
+	return n, err
+}
+
+func (w *LimitedWriter) Flush() error {
+	w.M.Lock()
+	defer w.M.Unlock()
+	if err := WriteLen(w.W, w.B.Len()); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	_, err := w.B.WriteTo(w.W)
+	return err
+}
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio.go b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio.go
index 6547e6890..4bb92debe 100644
--- a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio.go
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package msgio
 
 import (
-	"encoding/binary"
 	"errors"
 	"io"
 	"sync"
@@ -9,9 +8,6 @@ import (
 	mpool "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/mpool"
 )
 
-// NBO is NetworkByteOrder
-var NBO = binary.BigEndian
-
 //  ErrMsgTooLarge is returned when the message length is exessive
 var ErrMsgTooLarge = errors.New("message too large")
 
@@ -101,9 +97,7 @@ func (s *writer) Write(msg []byte) (int, error) {
 func (s *writer) WriteMsg(msg []byte) (err error) {
 	s.lock.Lock()
 	defer s.lock.Unlock()
-
-	length := uint32(len(msg))
-	if err := binary.Write(s.W, NBO, &length); err != nil {
+	if err := WriteLen(s.W, len(msg)); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	_, err = s.W.Write(msg)
@@ -166,10 +160,12 @@ func (s *reader) NextMsgLen() (int, error) {
 
 func (s *reader) nextMsgLen() (int, error) {
 	if s.next == -1 {
-		if _, err := io.ReadFull(s.R, s.lbuf); err != nil {
+		n, err := ReadLen(s.R, s.lbuf)
+		if err != nil {
 			return 0, err
 		}
-		s.next = int(NBO.Uint32(s.lbuf))
+
+		s.next = n
 	}
 	return s.next, nil
 }
@@ -186,6 +182,7 @@ func (s *reader) Read(msg []byte) (int, error) {
 	if length > len(msg) {
 		return 0, io.ErrShortBuffer
 	}
+
 	_, err = io.ReadFull(s.R, msg[:length])
 	s.next = -1 // signal we've consumed this msg
 	return length, err
@@ -200,7 +197,7 @@ func (s *reader) ReadMsg() ([]byte, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	if length > s.max {
+	if length > s.max || length < 0 {
 		return nil, ErrMsgTooLarge
 	}
 
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio/.gitignore b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fc28073bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+msgio
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio/README.md b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9a7318f9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# msgio headers tool
+
+Conveniently output msgio headers.
+
+## Install
+
+```
+go get github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio
+```
+
+## Usage
+
+```
+> msgio -h
+msgio - tool to wrap messages with msgio header
+
+Usage
+    msgio header 1020 >header
+    cat file | msgio wrap >wrapped
+
+Commands
+    header <size>   output a msgio header of given size
+    wrap            wrap incoming stream with msgio
+```
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio/msgio.go b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio/msgio.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a97793478
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio/msgio.go
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"flag"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+
+	msgio "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio"
+)
+
+var Args ArgType
+
+type ArgType struct {
+	Command string
+	Args    []string
+}
+
+func (a *ArgType) Arg(i int) string {
+	n := i + 1
+	if len(a.Args) < n {
+		die(fmt.Sprintf("expected %d argument(s)", n))
+	}
+	return a.Args[i]
+}
+
+var usageStr = `
+msgio - tool to wrap messages with msgio header
+
+Usage
+    msgio header 1020 >header
+    cat file | msgio wrap >wrapped
+
+Commands
+    header <size>   output a msgio header of given size
+    wrap            wrap incoming stream with msgio
+`
+
+func usage() {
+	fmt.Println(strings.TrimSpace(usageStr))
+	os.Exit(0)
+}
+
+func die(err string) {
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "error: %s\n", err)
+	os.Exit(-1)
+}
+
+func main() {
+	if err := run(); err != nil {
+		die(err.Error())
+	}
+}
+
+func argParse() {
+	flag.Usage = usage
+	flag.Parse()
+
+	args := flag.Args()
+	if l := len(args); l < 1 || l > 2 {
+		usage()
+	}
+
+	Args.Command = flag.Args()[0]
+	Args.Args = flag.Args()[1:]
+}
+
+func run() error {
+	argParse()
+
+	w := os.Stdout
+	r := os.Stdin
+
+	switch Args.Command {
+	case "header":
+		size, err := strconv.Atoi(Args.Arg(0))
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return header(w, size)
+	case "wrap":
+		return wrap(w, r)
+	default:
+		usage()
+		return nil
+	}
+}
+
+func header(w io.Writer, size int) error {
+	return msgio.WriteLen(w, size)
+}
+
+func wrap(w io.Writer, r io.Reader) error {
+	buf, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if err := msgio.WriteLen(w, len(buf)); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	_, err = w.Write(buf)
+	return err
+}
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio_test.go b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio_test.go
index 05eca7b24..da1590d6e 100644
--- a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio_test.go
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/msgio_test.go
@@ -180,3 +180,18 @@ func SubtestReadWriteMsgSync(t *testing.T, writer WriteCloser, reader ReadCloser
 		t.Error(e)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestBadSizes(t *testing.T) {
+	data := make([]byte, 4)
+
+	// on a 64 bit system, this will fail because its too large
+	// on a 32 bit system, this will fail because its too small
+	NBO.PutUint32(data, 4000000000)
+	buf := bytes.NewReader(data)
+	read := NewReader(buf)
+	msg, err := read.ReadMsg()
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	_ = msg
+}
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/num.go b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/num.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..513c1994f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-msgio/num.go
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package msgio
+
+import (
+	"encoding/binary"
+	"io"
+)
+
+// NBO is NetworkByteOrder
+var NBO = binary.BigEndian
+
+// WriteLen writes a length to the given writer.
+func WriteLen(w io.Writer, l int) error {
+	ul := uint32(l)
+	return binary.Write(w, NBO, &ul)
+}
+
+// ReadLen reads a length from the given reader.
+// if buf is non-nil, it reuses the buffer. Ex:
+//    l, err := ReadLen(r, nil)
+//    _, err := ReadLen(r, buf)
+func ReadLen(r io.Reader, buf []byte) (int, error) {
+	if len(buf) < 4 {
+		buf = make([]byte, 4)
+	}
+	buf = buf[:4]
+
+	if _, err := io.ReadFull(r, buf); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+
+	n := int(NBO.Uint32(buf))
+	return n, nil
+}