diff --git a/MANIFEST b/MANIFEST
index 5cbad48..28ac182 100644
--- a/MANIFEST
+++ b/MANIFEST
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ lib/Danga/TimeoutSocket.pm
 lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
 lib/Qpsmtpd/Address.pm
 lib/Qpsmtpd/Auth.pm
+lib/Qpsmtpd/Base.pm
 lib/Qpsmtpd/Command.pm
 lib/Qpsmtpd/ConfigServer.pm
 lib/Qpsmtpd/Connection.pm
@@ -55,7 +56,6 @@ lib/Qpsmtpd/SMTP/Prefork.pm
 lib/Qpsmtpd/TcpServer.pm
 lib/Qpsmtpd/TcpServer/Prefork.pm
 lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
-lib/Qpsmtpd/Utils.pm
 LICENSE
 log/log2sql
 log/log2sql.sql
diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
index fa52a58..bbefb1d 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
@@ -1,14 +1,16 @@
 package Qpsmtpd;
 use strict;
-
 #use warnings;
+
+our $VERSION = "0.95";
 use vars qw($TraceLevel $Spool_dir $Size_threshold);
 
 use Sys::Hostname;
-use Qpsmtpd::Constants;
-use Qpsmtpd::Address;
 
-our $VERSION = "0.95";
+use lib 'lib';
+use base 'Qpsmtpd::Base';
+use Qpsmtpd::Address;
+use Qpsmtpd::Constants;
 
 my $git;
 
@@ -592,8 +594,7 @@ sub spool_dir {
 
     unless ($Spool_dir) {    # first time through
         $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "Initializing spool_dir");
-        $Spool_dir = $self->config('spool_dir')
-          || Qpsmtpd::Utils->tildeexp('~/tmp/');
+        $Spool_dir = $self->config('spool_dir') || $self->tildeexp('~/tmp/');
 
         $Spool_dir .= "/" unless ($Spool_dir =~ m!/$!);
 
@@ -627,8 +628,8 @@ sub temp_file {
 }
 
 sub temp_dir {
-    my $self    = shift;
-    my $mask    = shift || 0700;
+    my ($self, $mask) = @_;
+    $mask ||= '0700';
     my $dirname = $self->temp_file();
     -d $dirname
       or mkdir($dirname, $mask)
@@ -638,10 +639,10 @@ sub temp_dir {
 
 sub size_threshold {
     my $self = shift;
-    unless (defined $Size_threshold) {
-        $Size_threshold = $self->config('size_threshold') || 0;
-        $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "size_threshold set to $Size_threshold");
-    }
+    return $Size_threshold if defined $Size_threshold;
+
+    $Size_threshold = $self->config('size_threshold') || 0;
+    $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "size_threshold set to $Size_threshold");
     return $Size_threshold;
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Utils.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Base.pm
similarity index 96%
rename from lib/Qpsmtpd/Utils.pm
rename to lib/Qpsmtpd/Base.pm
index 2aa3c0b..871fda1 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Utils.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Base.pm
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package Qpsmtpd::Utils;
+package Qpsmtpd::Base;
 use strict;
 
 use Net::IP;
diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
index 294fcd0..65307c4 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ use Qpsmtpd;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
-use Qpsmtpd::Utils;
+use Qpsmtpd::Base;
 use Qpsmtpd::Constants;
 
 use IO::File qw(O_RDWR O_CREAT);
diff --git a/plugins/fcrdns b/plugins/fcrdns
index e9f224a..26af74e 100644
--- a/plugins/fcrdns
+++ b/plugins/fcrdns
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ sub connect_handler {
 sub is_valid_localhost {
     my ($self) = @_;
 
-    if (Qpsmtpd::Utils->is_localhost($self->qp->connection->remote_ip)) {
+    if (Qpsmtpd::Base->is_localhost($self->qp->connection->remote_ip)) {
         $self->adjust_karma(1);
         $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "pass, is localhost");
         return 1;
diff --git a/plugins/helo b/plugins/helo
index 92ac3eb..49088bb 100644
--- a/plugins/helo
+++ b/plugins/helo
@@ -229,8 +229,8 @@ use warnings;
 
 use Net::IP;
 
+use Qpsmtpd::Base;
 use Qpsmtpd::Constants;
-use Qpsmtpd::Utils;
 
 sub register {
     my ($self, $qp) = (shift, shift);
@@ -342,7 +342,7 @@ sub is_regex_match {
 
 sub invalid_localhost {
     my ($self, $host) = @_;
-    if (Qpsmtpd::Utils->is_localhost($self->qp->connection->remote_ip)) {
+    if (Qpsmtpd::Base->is_localhost($self->qp->connection->remote_ip)) {
         $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "pass, is localhost");
         return;
     }
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ sub invalid_localhost {
 
 sub is_plain_ip {
     my ($self, $host) = @_;
-    return if !Qpsmtpd::Utils->is_valid_ip($host);
+    return if !Qpsmtpd::Base->is_valid_ip($host);
 
     $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "fail, plain IP");
     return ("Plain IP is invalid HELO hostname (RFC 2821)", "plain IP");
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ sub is_address_literal {
     my ($ip) = $host =~ /^\[(.*)\]/;  # strip off any brackets
     return if !$ip;   # no brackets, not a literal
 
-    return if !Qpsmtpd::Utils->is_valid_ip($ip);
+    return if !Qpsmtpd::Base->is_valid_ip($ip);
 
     $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "fail, bracketed IP");
     return ("RFC 2821 allows an address literal, but we do not",
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ sub is_address_literal {
 
 sub is_forged_literal {
     my ($self, $host) = @_;
-    return if !Qpsmtpd::Utils->is_valid_ip($host);
+    return if !Qpsmtpd::Base->is_valid_ip($host);
 
   # should we add exceptions for reserved internal IP space? (192.168,10., etc)
     $host = substr $host, 1, -1;
diff --git a/t/qpsmtpd-utils.t b/t/qpsmtpd-base.t
similarity index 88%
rename from t/qpsmtpd-utils.t
rename to t/qpsmtpd-base.t
index 920c271..24cdc9f 100644
--- a/t/qpsmtpd-utils.t
+++ b/t/qpsmtpd-base.t
@@ -4,11 +4,11 @@ use warnings;
 
 use Test::More;
 
-use lib 'lib';      # test lib/Qpsmtpd/Utils (vs site_perl)
+use lib 'lib';      # test lib/Qpsmtpd/Base (vs site_perl)
 
-BEGIN { use_ok('Qpsmtpd::Utils'); }
+BEGIN { use_ok('Qpsmtpd::Base'); }
 
-my $utils = bless {}, 'Qpsmtpd::Utils';
+my $utils = bless {}, 'Qpsmtpd::Base';
 
 __tildeexp();
 __is_localhost();
diff --git a/t/qpsmtpd.t b/t/qpsmtpd.t
index 65e2203..c84b39f 100644
--- a/t/qpsmtpd.t
+++ b/t/qpsmtpd.t
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ use strict;
 use warnings;
 
 use Data::Dumper;
+use File::Path;
 use Test::More;
 
 use lib 'lib';    # test lib/Qpsmtpd (vs site_perl)
@@ -20,12 +21,18 @@ my $qp = bless {}, 'Qpsmtpd';
 ok($qp->version(), "version, " . $qp->version());
 is_deeply(Qpsmtpd::hooks(), {}, 'hooks, empty');
 
+__temp_dir();
+__size_threshold();
 __authenticated();
+__auth_user();
+__auth_mechanism();
+
+__log();
+__load_logging();
+
 __config_dir();
 __get_qmail_config();
 __config();
-__log();
-__load_logging();
 
 done_testing();
 
@@ -75,17 +82,6 @@ sub __load_logging {
     $Qpsmtpd::hooks->{logging} = undef;    # restore
 }
 
-sub __authenticated {
-
-    ok(!$qp->authenticated(), "authenticated, undef");
-
-    $qp->{_auth} = 1;
-    ok($qp->authenticated(), "authenticated, true");
-
-    $qp->{_auth} = 0;
-    ok(!$qp->authenticated(), "authenticated, false");
-}
-
 sub __config {
     my @r = $qp->config('badhelo');
     ok($r[0], "config, badhelo, @r");
@@ -187,11 +183,60 @@ sub __config {
     }
 }
 
+sub __temp_dir {
+    my $r = $qp->temp_dir();
+    ok( $r, "temp_dir, $r");
+
+    $r = $qp->temp_dir('0775');
+    ok( $r, "temp_dir with mask, $r");
+
+    if ($r && -d $r) { File::Path::rmtree $r; }
+}
+
+sub __size_threshold {
+    ok( ! $qp->size_threshold(), "size_threshold is undefined")
+        or warn "size_threshold: " . $qp->size_threshold;
+
+    $Qpsmtpd::Size_threshold = 5;
+    cmp_ok( 5, '==', $qp->size_threshold(), "size_threshold equals 5");
+
+    $Qpsmtpd::Size_threshold = undef;
+}
+
+sub __authenticated {
+    ok( ! $qp->authenticated(), "authenticated is undefined");
+
+    $qp->{_auth} = 1;
+    ok($qp->authenticated(), "authenticated is true");
+
+    $qp->{_auth} = 0;
+    ok(! $qp->authenticated(), "authenticated is false");
+}
+
+sub __auth_user {
+    ok( ! $qp->auth_user(), "auth_user is undefined");
+
+    $qp->{_auth_user} = 'matt';
+    cmp_ok('matt', 'eq', $qp->auth_user(), "auth_user set");
+
+    $qp->{_auth_user} = undef;
+}
+
+sub __auth_mechanism {
+    ok( ! $qp->auth_mechanism(), "auth_mechanism is undefined");
+
+    $qp->{_auth_mechanism} = 'MD5';
+    cmp_ok('MD5', 'eq', $qp->auth_mechanism(), "auth_mechanism set");
+
+    $qp->{_auth_mechanism} = undef;
+}
+
+
 package FakeAddress;
 
 sub new {
-    shift;
-    return bless {@_};
+   my $class = shift;
+   return bless {@_}, $class;
 }
 
 sub address { }    # pass the can('address') conditional