diff --git a/sched/sample_assimilator.cpp b/sched/sample_assimilator.cpp
index 02179f39d7..fc1beafbe0 100644
--- a/sched/sample_assimilator.cpp
+++ b/sched/sample_assimilator.cpp
@@ -45,8 +45,7 @@ int write_error(char* p) {
     return 0;
 }
 
-int assimilate_handler_init(int argc, char** argv) {
-    // handle project specific arguments here
+int assimilate_handler_init(int, char**) {
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/sched/sample_dummy_assimilator.cpp b/sched/sample_dummy_assimilator.cpp
index c2e9a5ea49..4759b8c93d 100644
--- a/sched/sample_dummy_assimilator.cpp
+++ b/sched/sample_dummy_assimilator.cpp
@@ -31,8 +31,7 @@
 using std::vector;
 using std::string;
 
-int assimilate_handler_init(int argc, char** argv) {
-    // handle project specific arguments here
+int assimilate_handler_init(int, char**) {
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/sched/single_job_assimilator.cpp b/sched/single_job_assimilator.cpp
index 1c550a5fce..563d4518d7 100644
--- a/sched/single_job_assimilator.cpp
+++ b/sched/single_job_assimilator.cpp
@@ -39,8 +39,7 @@
 using std::vector;
 using std::string;
 
-int assimilate_handler_init(int argc, char** argv) {
-    // handle project specific arguments here
+int assimilate_handler_init(int, char**) {
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/tools/backend_lib.cpp b/tools/backend_lib.cpp
index ce76c7daa7..edee36a90f 100644
--- a/tools/backend_lib.cpp
+++ b/tools/backend_lib.cpp
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@
 
 using std::string;
 
+// the random part of output filenames needs to be hard to guess
+//
 static struct random_init {
     random_init() {
         srand48(getpid() + time(0));
@@ -153,14 +155,16 @@ int create_result(
     int priority_increase
 ) {
     DB_RESULT result;
-    char base_outfile_name[256];
+    char base_outfile_name[MAXPATHLEN];
     char result_template[BLOB_SIZE];
     int retval;
 
     initialize_result(result, wu);
+    result.random = lrand48();
+
     result.priority += priority_increase;
     sprintf(result.name, "%s_%s", wu.name, result_name_suffix);
-    sprintf(base_outfile_name, "%s_", result.name);
+    sprintf(base_outfile_name, "%s_%ld", result.name, lrand48());
     retval = read_filename(
         result_template_filename, result_template, sizeof(result_template)
     );
@@ -189,8 +193,6 @@ int create_result(
     }
     strlcpy(result.xml_doc_in, result_template, sizeof(result.xml_doc_in));
 
-    result.random = lrand48();
-
     if (query_string) {
         result.db_print_values(query_string);
     } else {