diff --git a/hslogger.cabal b/hslogger.cabal
--- a/hslogger.cabal
+++ b/hslogger.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name: hslogger
-Version: 1.2.3
+Version: 1.2.4
 License: BSD3
 Maintainer: John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org>
 Author: John Goerzen
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
         System.Log.Handler.Growl, System.Log.Handler.Log4jXML,
         System.Log.Logger
     Extensions: CPP, ExistentialQuantification
-    Build-Depends: network < 2.5, mtl
+    Build-Depends: network, mtl
     if !os(windows)
         Build-Depends: unix
     if flag(small_base)
diff --git a/src/System/Log/Handler/Simple.hs b/src/System/Log/Handler/Simple.hs
--- a/src/System/Log/Handler/Simple.hs
+++ b/src/System/Log/Handler/Simple.hs
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@
     where
       writeToHandle hdl msg =
           hPutStrLn hdl msg `catch` (handleWriteException hdl msg)
-      handleWriteException :: Handle -> String -> IOError -> IO ()
+      handleWriteException :: Handle -> String -> SomeException -> IO ()
       handleWriteException hdl msg e =
           let msg' = "Error writing log message: " ++ show e ++
                      " (original message: " ++ msg ++ ")"
diff --git a/src/System/Log/Handler/Syslog.hs b/src/System/Log/Handler/Syslog.hs
--- a/src/System/Log/Handler/Syslog.hs
+++ b/src/System/Log/Handler/Syslog.hs
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
 import System.Posix.Process(getProcessID)
 #endif
 import System.IO
+import Control.Monad (void, when)
 
 code_of_pri :: Priority -> Int
 code_of_pri p = case p of
@@ -237,20 +238,8 @@
 
 syslogFormatter :: LogFormatter SyslogHandler
 syslogFormatter sh (p,msg) logname =
-    let code = makeCode (facility sh) p
-        getpid :: IO String
-        getpid = 
-#ifndef mingw32_HOST_OS
-                     getProcessID >>= return . show
-#else
-                     return "windows"
-#endif
-        vars = [("code", return $ show code)
-               ,("identity", return $ identity sh)
-               ,("pid", getpid)]
-        withPid = if (elem PID (options sh)) then "[$pid]" else ""
-        format = "<$code>$identity"++withPid++": [$loggername/$prio] $msg"
-    in varFormatter vars format sh (p,msg) logname
+    let format = "[$loggername/$prio] $msg"
+    in varFormatter [] format sh (p,msg) logname
 
 
 instance LogHandler SyslogHandler where
@@ -258,20 +247,31 @@
     getLevel sh = priority sh
     setFormatter sh f = sh{formatter = f}
     getFormatter sh = formatter sh
-    emit sh (_, msg) _ =
-        let
-            sendstr :: String -> IO String
-            sendstr [] = return []
-            sendstr omsg = do
-                           sent <- case sock_type sh of
-                                       Datagram -> sendTo (logsocket sh) omsg (address sh)
-                                       Stream   -> send   (logsocket sh) omsg
-                           sendstr (genericDrop sent omsg)
-        in do
-          if (elem PERROR (options sh))
-               then hPutStrLn stderr msg
-               else return ()
-          sendstr (msg ++ "\0")
-          return ()
-    close sh = sClose (logsocket sh)
+    emit sh (_, msg) _ = do
+      when (elem PERROR (options sh)) (hPutStrLn stderr msg)
+      pidPart <- getPidPart
+      void $ sendstr (toSyslogFormat msg pidPart)
+      where
+        sendstr :: String -> IO String
+        sendstr [] = return []
+        sendstr omsg = do
+          sent <- case sock_type sh of
+                    Datagram -> sendTo (logsocket sh) omsg (address sh)
+                    Stream   -> send   (logsocket sh) omsg
+          sendstr (genericDrop sent omsg)
+        toSyslogFormat msg pidPart =
+            "<" ++ code ++ ">" ++ identity' ++ pidPart ++ ": " ++ msg ++ "\0"
+        code = show (makeCode (facility sh) (priority sh))
+        identity' = identity sh
+        getPidPart = if elem PID (options sh)
+                     then getPid >>= \pid -> return ("[" ++ pid ++ "]")
+                     else return ""
+        getPid :: IO String
+        getPid =
+#ifndef mingw32_HOST_OS
+          getProcessID >>= return . show
+#else
+          return "windows"
+#endif
 
+    close sh = sClose (logsocket sh)
diff --git a/src/System/Log/Logger.hs b/src/System/Log/Logger.hs
--- a/src/System/Log/Logger.hs
+++ b/src/System/Log/Logger.hs
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@
 but other functions won't see the changes.  To make a change global,
 you'll need to use 'updateGlobalLogger' or 'saveGlobalLogger'.
 -}
-                               addHandler, setHandlers,
+                               addHandler, removeHandler, setHandlers,
                                getLevel, setLevel, clearLevel,
                                -- ** Saving Your Changes
 {- | These functions commit changes you've made to loggers to the global
@@ -401,11 +401,31 @@
 -- | Generate IO actions for the handlers.
 handlerActions :: [HandlerT] -> LogRecord -> String -> [IO ()]
 handlerActions h lr loggername = map (callHandler lr loggername ) h
-                         
+
 -- | Add handler to 'Logger'.  Returns a new 'Logger'.
 addHandler :: LogHandler a => a -> Logger -> Logger
 addHandler h l= l{handlers = (HandlerT h) : (handlers l)}
 
+-- | Remove a handler from the 'Logger'.  Handlers are removed in the reverse
+-- order they were added, so the following property holds for any 'LogHandler'
+-- @h@:
+--
+-- > removeHandler . addHandler h = id
+--
+-- If no handlers are associated with the 'Logger', it is returned unchanged.
+--
+-- The root logger's default handler that writes every message to stderr can
+-- be removed by using this function before any handlers have been added
+-- to the root logger:
+--
+-- > updateGlobalLogger rootLoggerName removeHandler
+removeHandler :: Logger -> Logger
+removeHandler l =
+    case hs of [] -> l
+               _  -> l{handlers = tail hs}
+  where
+    hs = handlers l
+
 -- | Set the 'Logger'\'s list of handlers to the list supplied.
 -- All existing handlers are removed first.
 setHandlers :: LogHandler a => [a] -> Logger -> Logger
@@ -481,7 +501,7 @@
                     Control.Exception.throw e             -- Re-raise it
         in
         Control.Exception.catch action handler
-    
+
 {- This function pulled in from MissingH to avoid a dep on it -}
 split :: Eq a => [a] -> [a] -> [[a]]
 split _ [] = []