diff --git a/kittens/transfer/algorithm.c b/kittens/transfer/algorithm.c
index ad3612057..6e012413c 100644
--- a/kittens/transfer/algorithm.c
+++ b/kittens/transfer/algorithm.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 static PyObject *RsyncError = NULL;
 static const size_t default_block_size = 6 * 1024;
 static const size_t signature_block_size = 20;
+void log_error(const char *fmt, ...) { va_list args; va_start(args, fmt); vfprintf(stderr, fmt, args); va_end(args); }
 
 // hashers {{{
 typedef void*(*new_hash_t)(void);
@@ -536,7 +537,7 @@ finish_signature_data(Differ *self, PyObject *args UNUSED) {
 static bool
 send_op(Differ *self, Operation *op) {
     uint8_t metadata[32];
-    size_t len;
+    size_t len = 0;
     metadata[0] = op->type;
     switch (op->type) {
         case OpBlock:
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a536d9694..e7ee4799f 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -812,7 +812,7 @@ def compile_kittens(args: Options) -> None:
     ):
         final_env = kenv.copy()
         final_env.cflags.extend(f'-I{x}' for x in includes)
-        final_env.ldpaths[:0] = list(f'-l{x}' for x in libraries)
+        final_env.ldpaths[:0] = list(libraries)
         compile_c_extension(
             final_env, dest, args.compilation_database, sources, all_headers + ['kitty/data-types.h'])