diff --git a/benches/generators.rs b/benches/generators.rs
index 044d7b24e89..0298f5ed65f 100644
--- a/benches/generators.rs
+++ b/benches/generators.rs
@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@ const BYTES_LEN: usize = 1024;
 use std::mem::size_of;
 use test::{black_box, Bencher};
 
-use rand::{Rng, NewRng, StdRng, OsRng, JitterRng};
+use rand::{Rng, NewRng, StdRng, OsRng, JitterRng, EntropyRng};
 use rand::{XorShiftRng, Hc128Rng, IsaacRng, Isaac64Rng, ChaChaRng};
+use rand::reseeding::ReseedingRng;
 
 macro_rules! gen_bytes {
     ($fnn:ident, $gen:ident) => {
@@ -162,3 +163,39 @@ macro_rules! chacha_rounds {
 chacha_rounds!(gen_bytes_chacha8, gen_u32_chacha8, gen_u64_chacha8, 8);
 chacha_rounds!(gen_bytes_chacha12, gen_u32_chacha12, gen_u64_chacha12, 12);
 chacha_rounds!(gen_bytes_chacha20, gen_u32_chacha20, gen_u64_chacha20, 20);
+
+
+#[bench]
+fn reseeding_hc128_bytes(b: &mut Bencher) {
+    let mut rng = ReseedingRng::new(Hc128Rng::new().unwrap(),
+                                    128*1024*1024,
+                                    EntropyRng::new());
+    let mut buf = [0u8; BYTES_LEN];
+    b.iter(|| {
+        for _ in 0..RAND_BENCH_N {
+            rng.fill_bytes(&mut buf);
+            black_box(buf);
+        }
+    });
+    b.bytes = BYTES_LEN as u64 * RAND_BENCH_N;
+}
+
+macro_rules! reseeding_uint {
+    ($fnn:ident, $ty:ty) => {
+        #[bench]
+        fn $fnn(b: &mut Bencher) {
+            let mut rng = ReseedingRng::new(Hc128Rng::new().unwrap(),
+                                            128*1024*1024,
+                                            EntropyRng::new());
+            b.iter(|| {
+                for _ in 0..RAND_BENCH_N {
+                    black_box(rng.gen::<$ty>());
+                }
+            });
+            b.bytes = size_of::<$ty>() as u64 * RAND_BENCH_N;
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+reseeding_uint!(reseeding_hc128_u32, u32);
+reseeding_uint!(reseeding_hc128_u64, u64);
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 20941633d2b..e0d0a68dcf3 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@
 #[cfg(not(feature = "log"))] macro_rules! trace { ($($x:tt)*) => () }
 #[cfg(not(feature = "log"))] macro_rules! debug { ($($x:tt)*) => () }
 #[cfg(all(feature="std", not(feature = "log")))] macro_rules! info { ($($x:tt)*) => () }
-#[cfg(all(feature="std", not(feature = "log")))] macro_rules! warn { ($($x:tt)*) => () }
+#[cfg(not(feature = "log"))] macro_rules! warn { ($($x:tt)*) => () }
 #[cfg(all(feature="std", not(feature = "log")))] macro_rules! error { ($($x:tt)*) => () }
 
 
@@ -1284,7 +1284,7 @@ mod test {
                        80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87];
         for &n in lengths.iter() {
             let mut buffer = [0u8; 87];
-            let mut v = &mut buffer[0..n];
+            let v = &mut buffer[0..n];
             r.fill_bytes(v);
 
             // use this to get nicer error messages.
diff --git a/src/reseeding.rs b/src/reseeding.rs
index cf47b3fea8d..0fe85e4028f 100644
--- a/src/reseeding.rs
+++ b/src/reseeding.rs
@@ -8,20 +8,58 @@
 // option. This file may not be copied, modified, or distributed
 // except according to those terms.
 
-//! A wrapper around another RNG that reseeds it after it
+//! A wrapper around another PRNG that reseeds it after it
 //! generates a certain number of random bytes.
 
-use {Rng, SeedableRng, Error};
-
-/// A wrapper around any RNG which reseeds the underlying RNG after it
-/// has generated a certain number of random bytes.
+use {Rng, SeedableRng, Error, ErrorKind};
+
+/// A wrapper around any PRNG which reseeds the underlying PRNG after it has
+/// generated a certain number of random bytes.
+///
+/// Reseeding is never strictly *necessary*. Cryptographic PRNGs don't have a
+/// limited number of bytes they can output, or at least not a limit reachable
+/// in any practical way. There is no such thing as 'running out of entropy'.
+///
+/// Some small non-cryptographic PRNGs can have very small periods, for
+/// example less than 2<sup>64</sup>. Would reseeding help to ensure that you do
+/// not wrap around at the end of the period? A period of 2<sup>64</sup> still
+/// takes several centuries of CPU-years on current hardware. Reseeding will
+/// actually make things worse, because the reseeded PRNG will just continue
+/// somewhere else *in the same period*, with a high chance of overlapping with
+/// previously used parts of it.
+///
+/// # When should you use `ReseedingRng`?
+///
+/// - Reseeding can be seen as some form of 'security in depth'. Even if in the
+///   future a cryptographic weakness is found in the CSPRNG being used,
+///   occasionally reseeding should make exploiting it much more difficult or
+///   even impossible.
+/// - It can be used as a poor man's cryptography (not recommended, just use a
+///   good CSPRNG). Previous implementations of `thread_rng` for example used
+///   `ReseedingRng` with the ISAAC RNG. That algorithm, although apparently
+///   strong and with no known attack, does not come with any proof of security
+///   and does not meet the current standards for a cryptographically secure
+///   PRNG. By reseeding it frequently (every 32 MiB) it seems safe to assume
+///   there is no attack that can operate on the tiny window between reseeds.
+///
+/// # Error handling
+///
+/// If reseeding fails, `try_fill_bytes` is the only `Rng` method to report it.
+/// For all other `Rng` methods, `ReseedingRng` will not panic but try to
+/// handle the error intelligently; if handling the source error fails these
+/// methods will continue generating data from the wrapped PRNG without
+/// reseeding.
+///
+/// It is usually best to use the infallible methods `next_u32`, `next_u64` and
+/// `fill_bytes` because they can make use of this error handling strategy.
+/// Use `try_fill_bytes` and possibly `try_reseed` if you want to handle
+/// reseeding errors explicitly.
 #[derive(Debug)]
 pub struct ReseedingRng<R, Rsdr> {
     rng: R,
-    generation_threshold: u64,
-    bytes_generated: u64,
-    /// Controls the behaviour when reseeding the RNG.
     reseeder: Rsdr,
+    threshold: i64,
+    bytes_until_reseed: i64,
 }
 
 impl<R: Rng+SeedableRng, Rsdr: Rng> ReseedingRng<R, Rsdr> {
@@ -30,53 +68,115 @@ impl<R: Rng+SeedableRng, Rsdr: Rng> ReseedingRng<R, Rsdr> {
     /// # Arguments
     ///
     /// * `rng`: the random number generator to use.
-    /// * `generation_threshold`: the number of bytes of entropy at which to reseed the RNG.
-    /// * `reseeder`: the reseeding object to use.
-    pub fn new(rng: R, generation_threshold: u64, reseeder: Rsdr) -> ReseedingRng<R,Rsdr> {
+    /// * `threshold`: the number of generated bytes after which to reseed the RNG.
+    /// * `reseeder`: the RNG to use for reseeding.
+    pub fn new(rng: R, threshold: u64, reseeder: Rsdr) -> ReseedingRng<R,Rsdr> {
+        assert!(threshold <= ::core::i64::MAX as u64);
         ReseedingRng {
             rng: rng,
-            generation_threshold: generation_threshold,
-            bytes_generated: 0,
-            reseeder: reseeder
+            reseeder: reseeder,
+            threshold: threshold as i64,
+            bytes_until_reseed: threshold as i64,
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Reseed the internal PRNG.
+    ///
+    /// This will try to work around errors in the RNG used for reseeding
+    /// intelligently. If the error kind indicates retrying might help, it will
+    /// immediately retry a couple of times. If the error kind indicates the
+    /// seeding RNG is not ready, it will retry later, after `threshold / 256`
+    /// generated bytes. On other errors in the source RNG, this will skip
+    /// reseeding and continue using the internal PRNG, until another
+    /// `threshold` bytes have been generated (at which point it will try
+    /// reseeding again).
+    #[inline(never)]
+    pub fn reseed(&mut self) {
+        trace!("Reseeding RNG after generating {} bytes",
+               self.threshold - self.bytes_until_reseed);
+        self.bytes_until_reseed = self.threshold;
+        let mut err_count = 0;
+        loop {
+            if let Err(e) = R::from_rng(&mut self.reseeder)
+                            .map(|result| self.rng = result) {
+                let kind = e.kind();
+                if kind.should_wait() {
+                    self.bytes_until_reseed = self.threshold >> 8;
+                    warn!("Reseeding RNG delayed for {} bytes",
+                           self.bytes_until_reseed);
+                } else if kind.should_retry() {
+                    err_count += 1;
+                    // Retry immediately for 5 times (arbitrary limit)
+                    if err_count <= 5 { continue; }
+                }
+                warn!("Reseeding RNG failed; continuing without reseeding. Error: {}", e);
+            }
+            break; // Successfully reseeded, delayed, or given up.
         }
     }
 
     /// Reseed the internal RNG if the number of bytes that have been
     /// generated exceed the threshold.
-    pub fn reseed_if_necessary(&mut self) {
-        if self.bytes_generated >= self.generation_threshold {
-            trace!("Reseeding RNG after {} bytes", self.bytes_generated);
-            R::from_rng(&mut self.reseeder).map(|result| self.rng = result)
-                    .unwrap_or_else(|err| panic!("reseeding failed: {}", err));
-            self.bytes_generated = 0;
+    ///
+    /// If reseeding fails, return an error with the original cause. Note that
+    /// if the cause has a permanent failure, we report a transient error and
+    /// skip reseeding; this means that only two error kinds can be reported
+    /// from this method: `ErrorKind::Transient` and `ErrorKind::NotReady`.
+    #[inline(never)]
+    pub fn try_reseed(&mut self) -> Result<(), Error> {
+        trace!("Reseeding RNG after {} generated bytes",
+               self.threshold - self.bytes_until_reseed);
+        if let Err(err) = R::from_rng(&mut self.reseeder)
+                          .map(|result| self.rng = result) {
+            let newkind = match err.kind() {
+                a @ ErrorKind::NotReady => a,
+                b @ ErrorKind::Transient => b,
+                _ => {
+                    self.bytes_until_reseed = self.threshold; // skip reseeding
+                    ErrorKind::Transient
+                }
+            };
+            return Err(Error::with_cause(newkind, "reseeding failed", err));
         }
+        self.bytes_until_reseed = self.threshold;
+        Ok(())
     }
 }
 
-
 impl<R: Rng+SeedableRng, Rsdr: Rng> Rng for ReseedingRng<R, Rsdr> {
     fn next_u32(&mut self) -> u32 {
-        self.reseed_if_necessary();
-        self.bytes_generated += 4;
-        self.rng.next_u32()
+        let value = self.rng.next_u32();
+        self.bytes_until_reseed -= 4;
+        if self.bytes_until_reseed <= 0 {
+            self.reseed();
+        }
+        value
     }
 
     fn next_u64(&mut self) -> u64 {
-        self.reseed_if_necessary();
-        self.bytes_generated += 8;
-        self.rng.next_u64()
+        let value = self.rng.next_u64();
+        self.bytes_until_reseed -= 8;
+        if self.bytes_until_reseed <= 0 {
+            self.reseed();
+        }
+        value
     }
 
     fn fill_bytes(&mut self, dest: &mut [u8]) {
-        self.reseed_if_necessary();
-        self.bytes_generated += dest.len() as u64;
-        self.rng.fill_bytes(dest)
+        self.rng.fill_bytes(dest);
+        self.bytes_until_reseed -= dest.len() as i64;
+        if self.bytes_until_reseed <= 0 {
+            self.reseed();
+        }
     }
-    
+
     fn try_fill_bytes(&mut self, dest: &mut [u8]) -> Result<(), Error> {
-        self.reseed_if_necessary();
-        self.bytes_generated += dest.len() as u64;
-        self.rng.try_fill_bytes(dest)
+        self.rng.try_fill_bytes(dest)?;
+        self.bytes_until_reseed -= dest.len() as i64;
+        if self.bytes_until_reseed <= 0 {
+            self.try_reseed()?;
+        }
+        Ok(())
     }
 }