diff --git a/src/common/remoteio.c b/src/common/remoteio.c
--- a/src/common/remoteio.c
+++ b/src/common/remoteio.c
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ int _remoteio_handle_read(multiio_contex
 
 int _remoteio_ssh_open(struct remoteio *rem, struct remoteio_server *server);
 int _remoteio_ssh_read(struct remoteio *rem, void *buf, size_t len, size_t *bytesread);
-int _remoteio_ssh_write(struct remoteio *rem, void *buf, size_t len, size_t *byteswritten);
+int _remoteio_ssh_write(struct remoteio *rem, const void *buf, size_t len, size_t *byteswritten);
 int _remoteio_ssh_close(struct remoteio *rem);
 
 /**
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ int _remoteio_sock_open(struct remoteio 
 int _remoteio_sock_close(struct remoteio *rem);
 #endif
 int _remoteio_sock_read(struct remoteio *rem, void *buf, size_t len, size_t *bytesread);
-int _remoteio_sock_write(struct remoteio *rem, void *buf, size_t len, size_t *byteswritten);
+int _remoteio_sock_write(struct remoteio *rem, const void *buf, size_t len, size_t *byteswritten);
 
 /**
    These borrow from _remoteio_sock_read() and _remoteio_sock_write().
@@ -361,7 +361,8 @@ int remoteio_write(struct remoteio *rem,
 {
   struct remoteio_packet *packet;
   struct pollfd pollfd;
-  ssize_t bytes_written;
+  size_t bytes_written;
+  int err;
 
   /**
    * This is probably about the only optimization that exists in
@@ -378,7 +379,7 @@ int remoteio_write(struct remoteio *rem,
       poll(&pollfd, 1, 0);
       if(pollfd.events & POLLOUT)
 	{
-	  bytes_written = write(rem->sock, buf, len);
+	  err = funcmap[rem->method].write_func(rem, buf, len, &bytes_written);
 	  if(bytes_written > 0)
 	    {
 	      len -= bytes_written;
@@ -544,8 +545,10 @@ struct remoteio_server *remoteio_getserv
   return (struct remoteio_server *)NULL;
 }
 
-
-
+size_t remoteio_sendq_len(const struct remoteio *rem)
+{
+  return (size_t)q_size(rem->outmsgs);
+}
 
 /**
    different remoteio methods' implementations:
@@ -585,7 +588,7 @@ int _remoteio_ssh_read(struct remoteio *
   return execio_read(rem->execio, buf, len, bytesread);
 }
 
-int _remoteio_ssh_write(struct remoteio *rem, void *buf, size_t len, size_t *byteswritten)
+int _remoteio_ssh_write(struct remoteio *rem, const void *buf, size_t len, size_t *byteswritten)
 {
   return execio_write(rem->execio, buf, len, byteswritten);
 }
@@ -695,7 +698,7 @@ int _remoteio_sock_read(struct remoteio 
   return 0;
 }
 
-int _remoteio_sock_write(struct remoteio *rem, void *buf, size_t len, size_t *byteswritten)
+int _remoteio_sock_write(struct remoteio *rem, const void *buf, size_t len, size_t *byteswritten)
 {
   ssize_t writertn;