diff --git a/kinclude/io.c b/kinclude/io.c
index 021d1eb..67fce87 100644
--- a/kinclude/io.c
+++ b/kinclude/io.c
@@ -2,10 +2,6 @@
 
 #ifdef TEXT_IO_ADDR
 
-#ifndef TEXT_IO_BUFLEN
-#error "When defining TEXT_IO_ADDR, please also provide TEXT_IO_BUFLEN, otherwise textIO won't work!"
-#endif
-
 void dbgln(char* text, int len)
 {
     while (len > TEXT_IO_BUFLEN) {
@@ -68,11 +64,7 @@ char* itoa (int value, char* str, int base)
 
 #else
 
-/* if no textIO module loaded, dbgln is a noop :( */
-void dbgln(char* text, int len){}
-char* itoa (int value, char* str, int base) {
-    return str;
-}
+// this is included to prevent "error: ISO C forbids an empty translation unit [-Wpedantic]"
+typedef int make_iso_compilers_happy;
 
 #endif
-
diff --git a/kinclude/io.h b/kinclude/io.h
index 1009f59..38eb254 100644
--- a/kinclude/io.h
+++ b/kinclude/io.h
@@ -1,10 +1,26 @@
 #ifndef H_IO
 #define H_IO
 
+// if we have a textIO module
+#ifdef TEXT_IO_ADDR
+
+#ifndef TEXT_IO_BUFLEN
+#error "When defining TEXT_IO_ADDR, please also provide TEXT_IO_BUFLEN, otherwise textIO won't work!"
+#endif
+
 /* print a line to the debug textIO module */
 void dbgln(char* text, int len);
 
 /* alphabet for itoa */
 char* itoa (int value, char* str, int base);
 
+#else
+
+// if we don't have textio, dbgln becomes an empty macro to save on cycles
+#define dbgln(a,b)
+// itoa just evaluates to the passes pointer
+#define itoa(a,b,c) b
+
+#endif
+
 #endif