diff --git a/doc/FUTURE_IDEAS b/doc/FUTURE_IDEAS
index 8d3ea651..a941a515 100644
--- a/doc/FUTURE_IDEAS
+++ b/doc/FUTURE_IDEAS
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+test if block size is too small to match a record sep in both -N mode and normal
+
+
+
+
 --remove-rec-sep
 test alternation with --recend 'a|b'
 echo 12a34a45a6 | src/parallel -k --pipe --recend a -N1 --rrs 'echo -n "$PARALLEL_SEQ>"; cat; echo'
diff --git a/src/parallel b/src/parallel
index 99bdcd48..d4cd34e5 100755
--- a/src/parallel
+++ b/src/parallel
@@ -110,46 +110,38 @@ sub spreadstdin {
     $recstart = "(?:".$recstart.")";
     $recend = "(?:".$recend.")";
 
-    while(read(STDIN,$buf,$::opt_blocksize)) {
-	$record = $partial.$buf;
+    while(read(STDIN,substr($buf,length $buf,0),$::opt_blocksize)) {
+	# substr above = append to $buf
 	if($Global::max_number_of_args) {
 	    # -N => (start..*?end){n}
-	    while($record =~ s/(($recstart.*?$recend){$Global::max_number_of_args})($recstart.*)$/$1/os) {
-		$partial = $3;
-		::debug("Read record: ".length($record)."\n");
+	    while($buf =~ s/((?:$recstart.*?$recend){$Global::max_number_of_args})($recstart.*)$/$2/os) {
+		$record = $1;
+		::debug("Read record -N: ".length($record)."\n");
 		if($::opt_remove_rec_sep) {
 		    # Remove record separator
+		    $record =~ s/$recend$recstart//gos;
 		    $record =~ s/^$recstart//os;
 		    $record =~ s/$recend$//os;
-		    $record =~ s/$recstart$recend//gos;
 		}
-		write_record_to_pipe($record);
-		$record = $partial;
-	    }
-	    if(eof STDIN) {
-		# There is no partial record at the end of file
-		write_record_to_pipe($record);
+		write_record_to_pipe(\$record);
 	    }
 	} else {
-	    if($record =~ s/(.*$recend)($recstart.*?)$/$1/os) {
-		$partial = $2;
-	    } else {
-		print $Global::original_stderr $recerror,"\n";
-	    }
-	    if($::opt_remove_rec_sep) {
-		# Remove record separator
-		$record =~ s/^$recstart//os;
-		$record =~ s/$recend$//os;
-		$record =~ s/$recstart$recend//gos;
-	    }
-	    ::debug("Read record: ".length($record)."\n");
-	    write_record_to_pipe($record);
-	    if(eof STDIN) {
-		# There is no partial record at the end of file
-		write_record_to_pipe($partial);
+	    if($buf =~ s/(.*$recend)($recstart.*?)$/$2/os) {
+		$record = $1;
+		if($::opt_remove_rec_sep) {
+		    # Remove record separator
+		    $record =~ s/$recend$recstart//gos;
+		    $record =~ s/^$recstart//os;
+		    $record =~ s/$recend$//os;
+		}
+		::debug("Read record: ".length($record)."\n");
+		write_record_to_pipe(\$record);
 	    }
 	}
     }
+    # If there is anything left in the buffer write it
+    write_record_to_pipe(\$buf);
+
     ::debug("Done reading STDIN\n");
     flush_and_close_pipes();
     ::debug("Done flushing to children\n");
@@ -182,7 +174,7 @@ sub flush_and_close_pipes {
 }
 
 sub write_record_to_pipe {
-    my $record = shift;
+    my $record_ref = shift;
     my $sleep = 0.1; # 0.1 ms
   write_record: while(1) {
 	  # Sorting according to sequence is necessary for -k to work
@@ -191,7 +183,10 @@ sub write_record_to_pipe {
 	      ::debug("Looking at ",$job->seq(),"-",$job->remaining(),"-",$job->datawritten(),"\n");
 	      if($job->remaining()) {
 		  # Part of the job's last record has not finished being written
-		  $job->complete_write();
+		  if($job->complete_write()) {
+		      # Something got written
+		      $sleep = 0.1;
+		  }
 	      } else {
 		  if($job->datawritten() > 0) {
 		      # There is no data remaining and we have written data before:
@@ -201,7 +196,7 @@ sub write_record_to_pipe {
 		      my $fh = $job->stdin();
 		      close $fh;
 		  } else {
-		      $job->write($record);
+		      $job->write($record_ref);
 		      $sleep = 0.1;
 		      last write_record;
 		  }
@@ -2127,6 +2122,7 @@ sub no_of_cpus_freebsd {
 	(`sysctl -a dev.cpu | grep \%parent | awk '{ print \$2 }' | uniq | wc -l | awk '{ print \$1 }'`
 	 or
 	 `sysctl hw.ncpu 2>/dev/null | awk '{ print \$2 }'`);
+    chomp $no_of_cpus;
     return $no_of_cpus;
 }
 
@@ -2137,6 +2133,7 @@ sub no_of_cores_freebsd {
 	(`sysctl hw.ncpu 2>/dev/null | awk '{ print \$2 }'`
 	 or
 	 `sysctl -a hw  2>/dev/null | grep -w logicalcpu | awk '{ print \$2 }'`);
+    chomp $no_of_cores;
     return $no_of_cores;
 }
 
@@ -2425,14 +2422,16 @@ sub set_stdin {
 
 sub write {
     my $self = shift;
-    my $remaining = shift;
-    if(length($remaining)) {
-        $self->{'remaining'} .= $remaining;
+    my $remaining_ref = shift;
+    if(length($$remaining_ref)) {
+        $self->{'remaining'} .= $$remaining_ref;
         $self->complete_write();
     }
 }
 
 sub complete_write {
+    # Returns:
+    #   number of bytes written (see syswrite)
     my $self = shift;
     my $in = $self->{'stdin'};
     my $len = syswrite($in,$self->{'remaining'});
@@ -2444,6 +2443,7 @@ sub complete_write {
 	substr($self->{'remaining'},0,$len) = "";
 	$self->{'datawritten'} += $len;
     }
+    return $len;
 }
 
 sub remaining {
diff --git a/testsuite/wanted-results/test51 b/testsuite/wanted-results/test51
index a9280d93..ac0f8f99 100644
--- a/testsuite/wanted-results/test51
+++ b/testsuite/wanted-results/test51
@@ -17,16 +17,16 @@
 
 ### Test --rrs --recend single
 1>123445
-
 2>6
+
 ### Test --rrs -N1 --recend alternate
 1>123445
-
 2>6
+
 ### Test --rrs -N1 --recend single
 1>12a34
-
 2>45a6
+
 ### Test -N even
 1
 2
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ ole
 ole
 ole
 ### Test --recstart + --recend
-0d53a19cdc880668a7c745794dcafbf1  -
+3c20e43c58152da30261c5827a1f9084  -
 ### Race condition bug - 1 - would block
 ### Race condition bug - 2 - would block
 ### Test --block size=1