diff --git a/client/connection.go b/client/connection.go
index d988a4e..c5ccc7b 100644
--- a/client/connection.go
+++ b/client/connection.go
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"bufio"
 	"crypto/tls"
 	"fmt"
+	"github.com/fluffle/goirc/logging"
 	"github.com/fluffle/goirc/state"
-	"github.com/fluffle/golog/logging"
 	"io"
 	"net"
 	"strings"
@@ -107,9 +107,13 @@ func SimpleClient(nick string, args ...string) *Conn {
 }
 
 func Client(cfg *Config) *Conn {
-	logging.InitFromFlags()
-	if cfg == nil || cfg.Me == nil || cfg.Me.Nick == "" || cfg.Me.Ident == "" {
-		logging.Fatal("irc.Client(): Both cfg.Nick and cfg.Ident must be non-empty.")
+	if cfg == nil {
+		cfg = NewConfig("__idiot__")
+	}
+	if cfg.Me == nil || cfg.Me.Nick == "" || cfg.Me.Ident == "" {
+		cfg.Me = state.NewNick("__idiot__")
+		cfg.Me.Ident = "goirc"
+		cfg.Me.Name = "Powered by GoIRC"
 	}
 	conn := &Conn{
 		cfg:        cfg,
@@ -309,7 +313,7 @@ func (conn *Conn) write(line string) {
 	if !conn.cfg.Flood {
 		if t := conn.rateLimit(len(line)); t != 0 {
 			// sleep for the current line's time value before sending it
-			logging.Debug("irc.rateLimit(): Flood! Sleeping for %.2f secs.",
+			logging.Info("irc.rateLimit(): Flood! Sleeping for %.2f secs.",
 				t.Seconds())
 			<-time.After(t)
 		}
diff --git a/client/connection_test.go b/client/connection_test.go
index 832b6b0..03f6102 100644
--- a/client/connection_test.go
+++ b/client/connection_test.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package client
 import (
 	"code.google.com/p/gomock/gomock"
 	"github.com/fluffle/goirc/state"
-	"github.com/fluffle/golog/logging"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -22,7 +21,6 @@ func setUp(t *testing.T, start ...bool) (*Conn, *testState) {
 	st := state.NewMockTracker(ctrl)
 	nc := MockNetConn(t)
 	c := SimpleClient("test", "test", "Testing IRC")
-	logging.SetLogLevel(logging.LogFatal)
 
 	c.st = st
 	c.sock = nc
diff --git a/client/dispatch.go b/client/dispatch.go
index 1af35fb..844383f 100644
--- a/client/dispatch.go
+++ b/client/dispatch.go
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package client
 
 import (
-	"github.com/fluffle/golog/logging"
+	"github.com/fluffle/goirc/logging"
 	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
diff --git a/client/mocknetconn_test.go b/client/mocknetconn_test.go
index 1159268..06f1393 100644
--- a/client/mocknetconn_test.go
+++ b/client/mocknetconn_test.go
@@ -136,11 +136,11 @@ func (m *mockNetConn) Close() error {
 }
 
 func (m *mockNetConn) LocalAddr() net.Addr {
-	return &net.IPAddr{net.IPv4(127, 0, 0, 1)}
+	return &net.IPAddr{net.IPv4(127, 0, 0, 1), ""}
 }
 
 func (m *mockNetConn) RemoteAddr() net.Addr {
-	return &net.IPAddr{net.IPv4(127, 0, 0, 1)}
+	return &net.IPAddr{net.IPv4(127, 0, 0, 1), ""}
 }
 
 func (m *mockNetConn) SetDeadline(t time.Time) error {
diff --git a/client/state_handlers.go b/client/state_handlers.go
index 7a21e9a..4c99083 100644
--- a/client/state_handlers.go
+++ b/client/state_handlers.go
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ package client
 // to manage tracking state for an IRC connection
 
 import (
-	"github.com/fluffle/golog/logging"
+	"github.com/fluffle/goirc/logging"
 	"strings"
 )
 
diff --git a/logging/logging.go b/logging/logging.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd54416
--- /dev/null
+++ b/logging/logging.go
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+package logging
+
+// The IRC client will log things using these methods
+type Logger interface {
+	// Debug logging of raw socket comms to/from server.
+	Debug(format string, args ...interface{})
+	// Informational logging about client behaviour.
+	Info(format string, args ...interface{})
+	// Warnings of inconsistent or unexpected data, mostly
+	// related to state tracking of IRC nicks/chans.
+	Warn(format string, args ...interface{})
+	// Errors, mostly to do with network communication.
+	Error(format string, args ...interface{})
+}
+
+// By default we do no logging. Logging is enabled or disabled
+// at the package level, since I'm lazy and re-re-reorganising
+// my code to pass a per-client-struct Logger around to all the
+// state objects is a pain in the arse.
+var logger Logger = nullLogger{}
+
+// SetLogger sets the internal goirc Logger to l. If l is nil,
+// a dummy logger that does nothing is installed instead.
+func SetLogger(l Logger) {
+	if l == nil {
+		logger = nullLogger{}
+	} else {
+		logger = l
+	}
+}
+
+// A nullLogger does nothing while fulfilling Logger.
+type nullLogger struct{}
+func (nl nullLogger) Debug(f string, a ...interface{}) {}
+func (nl nullLogger) Info(f string, a ...interface{}) {}
+func (nl nullLogger) Warn(f string, a ...interface{}) {}
+func (nl nullLogger) Error(f string, a ...interface{}) {}
+
+// Shim functions so that the package can be used directly
+func Debug(f string, a ...interface{}) { logger.Debug(f, a...) }
+func Info(f string, a ...interface{}) { logger.Info(f, a...) }
+func Warn(f string, a ...interface{}) { logger.Warn(f, a...) }
+func Error(f string, a ...interface{}) { logger.Error(f, a...) }
diff --git a/state/channel.go b/state/channel.go
index 5067348..55d5a6b 100644
--- a/state/channel.go
+++ b/state/channel.go
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ package state
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/fluffle/golog/logging"
+	"github.com/fluffle/goirc/logging"
 	"reflect"
 	"strconv"
 )
diff --git a/state/nick.go b/state/nick.go
index 96a0b48..b70f612 100644
--- a/state/nick.go
+++ b/state/nick.go
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package state
 
 import (
-	"github.com/fluffle/golog/logging"
+	"github.com/fluffle/goirc/logging"
 	"reflect"
 )
 
diff --git a/state/tracker.go b/state/tracker.go
index 893b68d..b666dfd 100644
--- a/state/tracker.go
+++ b/state/tracker.go
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package state
 
 import (
-	"github.com/fluffle/golog/logging"
+	"github.com/fluffle/goirc/logging"
 )
 
 // The state manager interface
diff --git a/state/tracker_test.go b/state/tracker_test.go
index e6f3584..633f0aa 100644
--- a/state/tracker_test.go
+++ b/state/tracker_test.go
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package state
 
 import (
-	"github.com/fluffle/golog/logging"
+	"github.com/fluffle/goirc/logging"
 	"testing"
 )