diff --git a/src/accountsdb/db.zig b/src/accountsdb/db.zig
index fc979a575..b7ac207bc 100644
--- a/src/accountsdb/db.zig
+++ b/src/accountsdb/db.zig
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ pub const AccountsDB = struct {
 
     logger: Logger,
     config: AccountsDBConfig,
-    fields: AccountsDbFields = undefined,
+    fields: ?AccountsDbFields = null,
 
     const Self = @This();
 
@@ -82,14 +82,18 @@ pub const AccountsDB = struct {
             config.storage_cache_size,
         );
 
-        var disk_allocator_ptr: ?*DiskMemoryAllocator = null;
-        var reference_allocator = std.heap.page_allocator;
-        if (config.disk_index_path) |disk_index_path| {
-            var ptr = try allocator.create(DiskMemoryAllocator);
-            ptr.* = try DiskMemoryAllocator.init(disk_index_path);
-            reference_allocator = ptr.allocator();
-            disk_allocator_ptr = ptr;
-        }
+        const maybe_disk_allocator_ptr: ?*DiskMemoryAllocator, //
+        const reference_allocator: std.mem.Allocator //
+        = blk: {
+            if (config.disk_index_path) |disk_index_path| {
+                const ptr = try allocator.create(DiskMemoryAllocator);
+                errdefer allocator.destroy(ptr);
+                ptr.* = try DiskMemoryAllocator.init(disk_index_path);
+                break :blk .{ ptr, ptr.allocator() };
+            } else {
+                break :blk .{ null, std.heap.page_allocator };
+            }
+        };
 
         const account_index = try AccountIndex.init(
             allocator,
@@ -97,9 +101,9 @@ pub const AccountsDB = struct {
             config.number_of_index_bins,
         );
 
-        return Self{
+        return .{
             .allocator = allocator,
-            .disk_allocator_ptr = disk_allocator_ptr,
+            .disk_allocator_ptr = maybe_disk_allocator_ptr,
             .storage = storage,
             .account_index = account_index,
             .logger = logger,
@@ -281,7 +285,8 @@ pub const AccountsDB = struct {
         timer.reset();
     }
 
-    /// multithread entrypoint into parseAndBinAccountFiles
+    /// multithread entrypoint into parseAndBinAccountFiles.
+    /// Assumes that `loading_threads[thread_id].fields != null`.
     pub fn loadAndVerifyAccountsFilesMultiThread(
         loading_threads: []AccountsDB,
         filenames: [][]const u8,
@@ -304,6 +309,7 @@ pub const AccountsDB = struct {
 
     /// loads and verifies the account files into the threads file map
     /// and stores the accounts into the threads index
+    /// Assumes `self.fields != null`.
     pub fn loadAndVerifyAccountsFiles(
         self: *Self,
         accounts_dir_path: []const u8,
@@ -312,6 +318,8 @@ pub const AccountsDB = struct {
         // when we multithread this function we only want to print on the first thread
         print_progress: bool,
     ) !void {
+        std.debug.assert(self.fields != null);
+
         var file_map = &self.storage.file_map;
         try file_map.ensureTotalCapacity(file_names.len);
 
@@ -341,7 +349,7 @@ pub const AccountsDB = struct {
             const accounts_file_id = try std.fmt.parseInt(usize, fiter.next().?, 10);
 
             // read metadata
-            const file_infos: ArrayList(AccountFileInfo) = self.fields.file_map.get(slot) orelse {
+            const file_infos: ArrayList(AccountFileInfo) = self.fields.?.file_map.get(slot) orelse {
                 // dont read account files which are not in the file_map
                 // note: this can happen when we load from a snapshot and there are extra account files
                 // in the directory which dont correspond to the snapshot were loading
@@ -613,7 +621,7 @@ pub const AccountsDB = struct {
         full_snapshot_slot: Slot,
         expected_full_lamports: u64,
     ) !void {
-        const expected_accounts_hash = self.fields.bank_hash_info.accounts_hash;
+        const expected_accounts_hash = self.fields.?.bank_hash_info.accounts_hash;
 
         // validate the full snapshot
         self.logger.infof("validating the full snapshot", .{});
diff --git a/src/accountsdb/download.zig b/src/accountsdb/download.zig
index eb368d666..47733a200 100644
--- a/src/accountsdb/download.zig
+++ b/src/accountsdb/download.zig
@@ -39,15 +39,19 @@ const PeerSearchResult = struct {
 pub fn findPeersToDownloadFromAssumeCapacity(
     allocator: std.mem.Allocator,
     table: *const GossipTable,
-    contact_infos: []ContactInfo,
+    contact_infos: []const ContactInfo,
     my_shred_version: usize,
     my_pubkey: Pubkey,
-    blacklist: []Pubkey,
-    trusted_validators: ?std.ArrayList(Pubkey),
+    blacklist: []const Pubkey,
+    trusted_validators: ?[]const Pubkey,
+    /// `.capacity` must be >= `contact_infos.len`.
+    /// The arraylist is first cleared, and then the outputs
+    /// are appended to it.
     valid_peers: *std.ArrayList(PeerSnapshotHash),
 ) !PeerSearchResult {
     // clear the list
     valid_peers.clearRetainingCapacity();
+    std.debug.assert(valid_peers.capacity >= contact_infos.len);
 
     const TrustedMapType = std.AutoHashMap(
         SlotAndHash, // full snapshot hash
@@ -62,7 +66,7 @@ pub fn findPeersToDownloadFromAssumeCapacity(
         // populate with the hashes of trusted validators
         var trusted_count: usize = 0;
         // SAFE: the perf is safe because maybe_ is non null only if trusted_validators is non-null
-        for (trusted_validators.?.items) |trusted_validator| {
+        for (trusted_validators.?) |trusted_validator| {
             const gossip_data = table.get(.{ .SnapshotHashes = trusted_validator }) orelse continue;
             const trusted_hashes = gossip_data.value.data.SnapshotHashes;
             trusted_count += 1;
@@ -154,7 +158,7 @@ pub fn downloadSnapshotsFromGossip(
     allocator: std.mem.Allocator,
     logger: Logger,
     // if null, then we trust any peer for snapshot download
-    maybe_trusted_validators: ?std.ArrayList(Pubkey),
+    maybe_trusted_validators: ?[]const Pubkey,
     gossip_service: *GossipService,
     output_dir: []const u8,
     min_mb_per_sec: usize,
@@ -209,8 +213,8 @@ pub fn downloadSnapshotsFromGossip(
             defer allocator.free(snapshot_filename);
 
             const rpc_socket = peer.contact_info.getSocket(socket_tag.RPC).?;
-            const r = rpc_socket.toString();
-            const rpc_url = r[0][0..r[1]];
+            const rpc_url_bounded = rpc_socket.toStringBounded();
+            const rpc_url = rpc_url_bounded.constSlice();
 
             const snapshot_url = try std.fmt.allocPrintZ(allocator, "http://{s}/{s}", .{
                 rpc_url,
@@ -520,7 +524,7 @@ test "accounts_db.download: test remove untrusted peers" {
         my_shred_version,
         my_pubkey,
         &.{},
-        trusted_validators,
+        trusted_validators.items,
         &valid_peers,
     );
     try std.testing.expectEqual(valid_peers.items.len, 10);
@@ -535,7 +539,7 @@ test "accounts_db.download: test remove untrusted peers" {
         my_shred_version,
         my_pubkey,
         &.{},
-        trusted_validators,
+        trusted_validators.items,
         &valid_peers,
     );
     try std.testing.expectEqual(valid_peers.items.len, 8);
diff --git a/src/cmd/cmd.zig b/src/cmd/cmd.zig
index a41633aa4..b008ac579 100644
--- a/src/cmd/cmd.zig
+++ b/src/cmd/cmd.zig
@@ -722,7 +722,7 @@ fn downloadSnapshot() !void {
     try downloadSnapshotsFromGossip(
         gpa_allocator,
         logger,
-        trusted_validators,
+        if (trusted_validators) |trusted| trusted.items else null,
         &gossip_service,
         snapshot_dir_str,
         @intCast(min_mb_per_sec),
@@ -795,7 +795,7 @@ fn getOrDownloadSnapshots(
         try downloadSnapshotsFromGossip(
             allocator,
             logger,
-            trusted_validators,
+            if (trusted_validators) |trusted| trusted.items else null,
             gossip_service orelse return error.SnapshotsNotFoundAndNoGossipService,
             snapshot_dir_str,
             @intCast(min_mb_per_sec),
diff --git a/src/net/net.zig b/src/net/net.zig
index 2106aa195..b240f69b3 100644
--- a/src/net/net.zig
+++ b/src/net/net.zig
@@ -240,9 +240,20 @@ pub const SocketAddr = union(enum(u8)) {
     /// - integer: length of the string within the array
     pub fn toString(self: Self) struct { [53]u8, usize } {
         var buf: [53]u8 = undefined;
-        var stream = std.io.fixedBufferStream(&buf);
+        const len = self.toStringBuf(&buf);
+        return .{ buf, len };
+    }
+
+    pub fn toStringBounded(self: Self) std.BoundedArray(u8, 53) {
+        var buf: [53]u8 = undefined;
+        const len = self.toStringBuf(&buf);
+        return std.BoundedArray(u8, 53).fromSlice(buf[0..len]) catch unreachable;
+    }
+
+    pub fn toStringBuf(self: Self, buf: *[53]u8) std.math.IntFittingRange(0, 53) {
+        var stream = std.io.fixedBufferStream(buf);
         self.toAddress().format("", .{}, stream.writer()) catch unreachable;
-        return .{ buf, stream.pos };
+        return @intCast(stream.pos);
     }
 
     pub fn isUnspecified(self: *const Self) bool {