diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7b449d6..4acbd14 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ except:
 
 setuptools.setup(
         name='warcprox',
-        version='2.1b1.dev67',
+        version='2.1b1.dev68',
         description='WARC writing MITM HTTP/S proxy',
         url='https://github.com/internetarchive/warcprox',
         author='Noah Levitt',
diff --git a/tests/test_warcprox.py b/tests/test_warcprox.py
index c0d57a5..547e579 100755
--- a/tests/test_warcprox.py
+++ b/tests/test_warcprox.py
@@ -1328,6 +1328,34 @@ def test_timestamped_queue():
     time.sleep(1)
     assert q.seconds_behind() > 1
 
+def test_controller_with_defaults():
+    # tests some initialization code that we rarely touch otherwise
+    controller = warcprox.controller.WarcproxController()
+    assert controller.proxy
+    assert not controller.proxy_thread
+    assert not controller.playback_proxy
+    assert not controller.playback_proxy_thread
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread
+    assert controller.proxy.RequestHandlerClass == warcprox.warcproxy.WarcProxyHandler
+    assert controller.proxy.ca
+    assert controller.proxy.digest_algorithm == 'sha1'
+    assert controller.proxy.pool
+    assert controller.proxy.recorded_url_q
+    assert controller.proxy.server_address == ('127.0.0.1', 8000)
+    assert controller.proxy.server_port == 8000
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread.recorded_url_q
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread.recorded_url_q is controller.proxy.recorded_url_q
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread.writer_pool
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread.writer_pool.default_warc_writer
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread.writer_pool.default_warc_writer.directory == './warcs'
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread.writer_pool.default_warc_writer.rollover_idle_time is None
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread.writer_pool.default_warc_writer.rollover_size == 1000000000
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread.writer_pool.default_warc_writer.prefix == 'warcprox'
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread.writer_pool.default_warc_writer.gzip is False
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread.writer_pool.default_warc_writer.record_builder
+    assert not controller.warc_writer_thread.writer_pool.default_warc_writer.record_builder.base32
+    assert controller.warc_writer_thread.writer_pool.default_warc_writer.record_builder.digest_algorithm == 'sha1'
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     pytest.main()
 
diff --git a/warcprox/controller.py b/warcprox/controller.py
index 8f56b86..3ed2b8c 100644
--- a/warcprox/controller.py
+++ b/warcprox/controller.py
@@ -53,12 +53,13 @@ class WarcproxController(object):
         if proxy is not None:
             self.proxy = proxy
         else:
-            self.proxy = warcprox.warcprox.WarcProxy()
+            self.proxy = warcprox.warcproxy.WarcProxy(options=options)
 
         if warc_writer_thread is not None:
             self.warc_writer_thread = warc_writer_thread
         else:
-            self.warc_writer_thread = warcprox.warcwriter.WarcWriterThread(recorded_url_q=self.proxy.recorded_url_q)
+            self.warc_writer_thread = warcprox.writerthread.WarcWriterThread(
+                    recorded_url_q=self.proxy.recorded_url_q)
 
         self.proxy_thread = None
         self.playback_proxy_thread = None
diff --git a/warcprox/mitmproxy.py b/warcprox/mitmproxy.py
index e15ed3c..5f592e4 100644
--- a/warcprox/mitmproxy.py
+++ b/warcprox/mitmproxy.py
@@ -438,6 +438,9 @@ class PooledMixIn(socketserver.ThreadingMixIn):
 
         This override is necessary for the size of the thread pool to act as a
         cap on the number of open file handles.
+
+        N.b. this method blocks if necessary, even though it's called from
+        `_handle_request_noblock`.
         '''
         # neither threading.Condition Queue.not_empty nor Queue.not_full do
         # what we need here, right?
diff --git a/warcprox/writerthread.py b/warcprox/writerthread.py
index 34a2b4e..a845e37 100644
--- a/warcprox/writerthread.py
+++ b/warcprox/writerthread.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 warcprox/writerthread.py - warc writer thread, reads from the recorded url
 queue, writes warc records, runs final tasks after warc records are written
 
-Copyright (C) 2013-2016 Internet Archive
+Copyright (C) 2013-2017 Internet Archive
 
 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@ import sys
 class WarcWriterThread(threading.Thread):
     logger = logging.getLogger("warcprox.warcproxwriter.WarcWriterThread")
 
-    def __init__(self, recorded_url_q=None, writer_pool=None, dedup_db=None, listeners=None, options=warcprox.Options()):
+    def __init__(
+            self, recorded_url_q=None, writer_pool=None, dedup_db=None,
+            listeners=None, options=warcprox.Options()):
         """recorded_url_q is a queue.Queue of warcprox.warcprox.RecordedUrl."""
         threading.Thread.__init__(self, name='WarcWriterThread')
         self.recorded_url_q = recorded_url_q
@@ -52,7 +54,7 @@ class WarcWriterThread(threading.Thread):
         if writer_pool:
             self.writer_pool = writer_pool
         else:
-            self.writer_pool = WarcWriterPool()
+            self.writer_pool = warcprox.writer.WarcWriterPool()
         self.dedup_db = dedup_db
         self.listeners = listeners
         self.options = options