diff --git a/include/buffer.h b/include/buffer.h
index ed92953..9437df2 100644
--- a/include/buffer.h
+++ b/include/buffer.h
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ reading_t * buffer_push(buffer_t *buf, reading_t *rd);
 void buffer_free(buffer_t *buf);
 void buffer_clean(buffer_t *buf);
 void buffer_clear(buffer_t *buf);
-char * buffer_dump(buffer_t *buf, char *dump, int len);
+char * buffer_dump(buffer_t *buf, char *dump, size_t len);
 
 
 #endif /* _BUFFER_H_ */
diff --git a/src/buffer.c b/src/buffer.c
index be91cb1..5eac7af 100644
--- a/src/buffer.c
+++ b/src/buffer.c
@@ -97,26 +97,32 @@ void buffer_clean(buffer_t *buf) {
 	pthread_mutex_unlock(&buf->mutex);
 }
 
-char * buffer_dump(buffer_t *buf, char *dump, int len) {
-	strcpy(dump, "|");
+char * buffer_dump(buffer_t *buf, char *dump, size_t len) {
+	size_t pos = 0;
+	dump[pos++] = '{';
 
 	for (reading_t *rd = buf->head; rd != NULL; rd = rd->next) {
-		char tmp[16];
-		sprintf(tmp, "%.2f|", rd->value);
-
-		if (strlen(dump)+strlen(tmp) < len) {
-			if (buf->sent == rd) { /* indicate last sent reading */
-				strcat(dump, "!");
-			}
-
-			strcat(dump, tmp);
+		if (pos < len) {
+			pos += snprintf(dump+pos, len-pos, "%.2f", rd->value);
 		}
-		else {
-			return NULL; /* dump buffer is full! */
+
+		/* indicate last sent reading */
+		if (pos < len && buf->sent == rd) {
+			dump[pos++] = '!';
+		}
+
+		/* add seperator between values */
+		if (pos < len && rd->next != NULL) {
+			dump[pos++] = ',';
 		}
 	}
 
-	return dump;
+	if (pos+1 < len) {
+		dump[pos++] = '}';
+		dump[pos] = '\0'; /* zero terminated string */
+	}
+
+	return (pos < len) ? dump : NULL; /* buffer full? */
 }
 
 void buffer_free(buffer_t *buf) {
diff --git a/src/threads.c b/src/threads.c
index 42999d2..abc81a4 100644
--- a/src/threads.c
+++ b/src/threads.c
@@ -120,9 +120,24 @@ void * reading_thread(void *arg) {
 
 			/* debugging */
 			if (options.verbosity >= log_debug) {
-				char dump[1024];
-				buffer_dump(buf, dump, 1024);
-				print(log_debug, "Buffer dump: %s (size=%i, keep=%i)", ch, dump, buf->size, buf->keep);
+				size_t dump_len = 24;
+				char *dump = malloc(dump_len);
+
+				if (dump == NULL) {
+					print(log_error, "cannot allocate buffer", ch);
+				}
+
+				while (dump == NULL || buffer_dump(buf, dump, dump_len) == NULL) {
+					dump_len *= 1.5;
+					print(log_debug, "New dump_len: %i", ch ,dump_len);
+
+					free(dump);
+					dump = malloc(dump_len);
+				}
+
+				print(log_debug, "Buffer dump (size=%i keep=%i): %s", ch, buf->size, buf->keep, dump);
+
+				free(dump);
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/vzlogger.c b/src/vzlogger.c
index e5926c2..ff4f559 100644
--- a/src/vzlogger.c
+++ b/src/vzlogger.c
@@ -94,48 +94,48 @@ const char *long_options_descs[] = {
  * @param id could be NULL for general messages
  * @todo integrate into syslog
  */
-void print(int level, const char *format, void *id, ... ) {
-	va_list args;
-
+void print(log_level_t level, const char *format, void *id, ... ) {
 	if (level > options.verbosity) {
 		return; /* skip message if its under the verbosity level */
 	}
 
 	struct timeval now;
 	struct tm * timeinfo;
-	char buffer[1024];
-	char *pos = buffer;
+	char prefix[24];
+	size_t pos = 0;
 
 	gettimeofday(&now, NULL);
 	timeinfo = localtime(&now.tv_sec);
 
-	/* print timestamp to buffer */
-	pos += sprintf(pos, "[");
-	pos += strftime(pos, 16, "%b %d %H:%M:%S", timeinfo);
+	/* format timestamp */
+	pos += strftime(prefix+pos, 18, "[%b %d %H:%M:%S]", timeinfo);
 
-	/* print logging 'section' */
-	pos += (id != NULL) ? sprintf(pos, "][%s]", (char *) id) : sprintf(pos, "]");
-
-	/* fill with whitespaces */
-	while(pos - buffer < 24) {
-		pos += sprintf(pos, " ");
+	/* format section */
+	if (id) {
+		snprintf(prefix+pos, 8, "[%s]", (char *) id);
 	}
 
-	/* print formatstring */
+	va_list args;
 	va_start(args, id);
-	pos += vsprintf(pos, format, args);
+	/* print to stdout/stderr */
+	if (getppid() != 1) { /* running as fork in background? */
+		FILE *stream = (level > 0) ? stdout : stderr;
+
+		fprintf(stream, "%-24s", prefix);
+		vfprintf(stream, format, args);
+		fprintf(stream, "\n");
+	}
 	va_end(args);
 
-	/* print to stdout/stderr */
-	if (getppid() != 1) {
-		fprintf((level > 0) ? stdout : stderr, "%s\n", buffer);
-	}
-
+	va_start(args, id);
 	/* append to logfile */
 	if (options.logfd) {
-		fprintf(options.logfd, "%s\n", buffer);
-			fflush(options.logfd);
+		fprintf(options.logfd, "%-24s", prefix);
+		vfprintf(options.logfd, format, args);
+		fprintf(options.logfd, "\n");
+		fflush(options.logfd);
 	}
+	va_end(args);
 }
 
 /**