diff --git a/src/app/fdctl/fdctl.h b/src/app/fdctl/fdctl.h
index b2eacb92c4..c59640f237 100644
--- a/src/app/fdctl/fdctl.h
+++ b/src/app/fdctl/fdctl.h
@@ -71,9 +71,10 @@ typedef struct {
 #define ACTIONS_CNT (10UL)
 extern action_t ACTIONS[ ACTIONS_CNT ];
 
-config_t fdctl_boot( int *        pargc,
-                     char ***     pargv,
-                     char const * log_path);
+void fdctl_boot( int *        pargc,
+                 char ***     pargv,
+                 config_t   * config,
+                 char const * log_path);
 
 int
 main1( int     argc,
diff --git a/src/app/fdctl/main1.c b/src/app/fdctl/main1.c
index 4364891e43..ca4ac6c38b 100644
--- a/src/app/fdctl/main1.c
+++ b/src/app/fdctl/main1.c
@@ -78,73 +78,75 @@ should_colorize( void ) {
   return 0;
 }
 
-config_t
+void
 fdctl_boot( int *        pargc,
             char ***     pargv,
+            config_t   * config,
             char const * log_path ) {
   fd_log_level_core_set( 5 ); /* Don't dump core for FD_LOG_ERR during boot */
   fd_log_colorize_set( should_colorize() ); /* Colorize during boot until we can determine from config */
 
   int config_fd = fd_env_strip_cmdline_int( pargc, pargv, "--config-fd", NULL, -1 );
 
-  config_t config = {0};
+  fd_memset( config, 0, sizeof( config_t ) );
   char * thread = "";
   if( FD_UNLIKELY( config_fd >= 0 ) ) {
-    copy_config_from_fd( config_fd, &config );
+    copy_config_from_fd( config_fd, config );
     /* tick_per_ns needs to be synchronized across procesess so that they
        can coordinate on metrics measurement. */
-    fd_tempo_set_tick_per_ns( config.tick_per_ns_mu, config.tick_per_ns_sigma );
+    fd_tempo_set_tick_per_ns( config->tick_per_ns_mu, config->tick_per_ns_sigma );
   } else {
-    config_parse( pargc, pargv, &config );
-    config.tick_per_ns_mu = fd_tempo_tick_per_ns( &config.tick_per_ns_sigma );
-    config.log.lock_fd = init_log_memfd();
-    config.log.log_fd  = -1;
+    config_parse( pargc, pargv, config );
+    config->tick_per_ns_mu = fd_tempo_tick_per_ns( &config->tick_per_ns_sigma );
+    config->log.lock_fd = init_log_memfd();
+    config->log.log_fd  = -1;
     thread = "main";
     if( FD_UNLIKELY( log_path ) )
-      strncpy( config.log.path, log_path, sizeof( config.log.path ) - 1 );
+      strncpy( config->log.path, log_path, sizeof( config->log.path ) - 1 );
   }
 
-  int * log_lock = map_log_memfd( config.log.lock_fd );
+  int * log_lock = map_log_memfd( config->log.lock_fd );
   int pid = getpid1(); /* Need to read /proc since we might be in a PID namespace now */;
 
-  log_path = config.log.path;
-  if( FD_LIKELY( config.log.path[ 0 ]=='\0' ) ) log_path = NULL;
+  log_path = config->log.path;
+  if( FD_LIKELY( config->log.path[ 0 ]=='\0' ) ) log_path = NULL;
 
   fd_log_private_boot_custom( log_lock,
                               0UL,
-                              config.name,
+                              config->name,
                               0UL,    /* Thread ID will be initialized later */
                               thread, /* Thread will be initialized later */
                               0UL,
-                              config.hostname,
+                              config->hostname,
                               fd_log_private_cpu_id_default(),
                               NULL,
                               (ulong)pid,
                               NULL,
                               (ulong)pid,
-                              config.uid,
-                              config.user,
+                              config->uid,
+                              config->user,
                               1,
-                              config.log.colorize1,
-                              config.log.level_logfile1,
-                              config.log.level_stderr1,
-                              config.log.level_flush1,
+                              config->log.colorize1,
+                              config->log.level_logfile1,
+                              config->log.level_stderr1,
+                              config->log.level_flush1,
                               5,
-                              config.log.log_fd,
+                              config->log.log_fd,
                               log_path );
-  config.log.log_fd = fd_log_private_logfile_fd();
+  config->log.log_fd = fd_log_private_logfile_fd();
   fd_shmem_private_boot( pargc, pargv );;
   fd_tile_private_boot( 0, NULL );
-  return config;
 }
 
+static config_t config;
+
 int
 main1( int     argc,
        char ** _argv ) {
   char ** argv = _argv;
   argc--; argv++;
 
-  config_t config = fdctl_boot( &argc, &argv, NULL );
+  fdctl_boot( &argc, &argv, &config, NULL );
 
   if( FD_UNLIKELY( !argc ) ) {
     help_cmd_fn( NULL, &config );
diff --git a/src/app/fddev/main.c b/src/app/fddev/main.c
index bb27fd0e7b..dd20c2471e 100644
--- a/src/app/fddev/main.c
+++ b/src/app/fddev/main.c
@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ execve_as_root( int     argc,
   FD_LOG_ERR(( "execve(sudo) failed (%i-%s)", errno, fd_io_strerror( errno ) ));
 }
 
+static config_t config;
+
 int
 main( int     argc,
       char ** _argv ) {
@@ -92,7 +94,7 @@ main( int     argc,
 
   char const * log_path = fd_env_strip_cmdline_cstr( &argc, &argv, "--log-path", NULL, NULL );
 
-  config_t config = fdctl_boot( &argc, &argv, log_path );
+  fdctl_boot( &argc, &argv, &config, log_path );
 
   /* load configuration and command line parsing */
   if( FD_UNLIKELY( config.is_live_cluster ) )
@@ -125,7 +127,7 @@ main( int     argc,
 
   if( FD_UNLIKELY( !action ) ) FD_LOG_ERR(( "unknown subcommand `%s`", action_name ));
 
-  args_t args;
+  args_t args = {0};
   if( FD_LIKELY( action->args ) ) action->args( &argc, &argv, &args );
   if( FD_UNLIKELY( argc ) ) FD_LOG_ERR(( "unknown argument `%s`", argv[ 0 ] ));