diff --git a/briar-api/src/org/briarproject/api/data/BdfReader.java b/briar-api/src/org/briarproject/api/data/BdfReader.java
index ad0efccf23a43594c2ed306f65afb511dc35a9ec..531806beb8ee348f69eb1d751af5732b18eb005b 100644
--- a/briar-api/src/org/briarproject/api/data/BdfReader.java
+++ b/briar-api/src/org/briarproject/api/data/BdfReader.java
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 
 public interface BdfReader {
 
+	int DEFAULT_NESTED_LIMIT = 5;
+
 	boolean eof() throws IOException;
 	void close() throws IOException;
 
diff --git a/briar-api/src/org/briarproject/api/data/BdfReaderFactory.java b/briar-api/src/org/briarproject/api/data/BdfReaderFactory.java
index e717f7476ab8bb5ca5210ee5350f6f869f22c7c6..f8a53c1fbf6287bab7644a64ce6ba8f07a95c708 100644
--- a/briar-api/src/org/briarproject/api/data/BdfReaderFactory.java
+++ b/briar-api/src/org/briarproject/api/data/BdfReaderFactory.java
@@ -5,4 +5,6 @@ import java.io.InputStream;
 public interface BdfReaderFactory {
 
 	BdfReader createReader(InputStream in);
+
+	BdfReader createReader(InputStream in, int nestedLimit);
 }
diff --git a/briar-core/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderFactoryImpl.java b/briar-core/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderFactoryImpl.java
index fb2ca9e67186ffd15a4cd5cbaae0bf1f81e1c320..0f1196c66120b77f7142bb8bf8aeb39266ed8d66 100644
--- a/briar-core/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderFactoryImpl.java
+++ b/briar-core/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderFactoryImpl.java
@@ -5,9 +5,17 @@ import org.briarproject.api.data.BdfReaderFactory;
 
 import java.io.InputStream;
 
+import static org.briarproject.api.data.BdfReader.DEFAULT_NESTED_LIMIT;
+
 class BdfReaderFactoryImpl implements BdfReaderFactory {
 
+	@Override
 	public BdfReader createReader(InputStream in) {
-		return new BdfReaderImpl(in);
+		return new BdfReaderImpl(in, DEFAULT_NESTED_LIMIT);
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public BdfReader createReader(InputStream in, int nestedLimit) {
+		return new BdfReaderImpl(in, nestedLimit);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/briar-core/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderImpl.java b/briar-core/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderImpl.java
index 59a53cfe63e0a1bd628dea6016cbe52e3a7df3a8..d1fe25794f753267dfa12ae97387a07c72c4896f 100644
--- a/briar-core/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderImpl.java
+++ b/briar-core/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderImpl.java
@@ -32,21 +32,14 @@ import static org.briarproject.data.Types.TRUE;
 @NotThreadSafe
 class BdfReaderImpl implements BdfReader {
 
-	final static int DEFAULT_NESTED_LIMIT = 5;
-
-	private static final byte[] EMPTY_BUFFER = new byte[] {};
+	private static final byte[] EMPTY_BUFFER = new byte[0];
 
 	private final InputStream in;
+	private final int nestedLimit;
 
 	private boolean hasLookahead = false, eof = false;
 	private byte next;
 	private byte[] buf = new byte[8];
-	private final int nestedLimit;
-
-	BdfReaderImpl(InputStream in) {
-		this.in = in;
-		this.nestedLimit = DEFAULT_NESTED_LIMIT;
-	}
 
 	BdfReaderImpl(InputStream in, int nestedLimit) {
 		this.in = in;
@@ -54,7 +47,7 @@ class BdfReaderImpl implements BdfReader {
 	}
 
 	private void readLookahead() throws IOException {
-		if (eof) throw new IllegalStateException();
+		if (eof) return;
 		if (hasLookahead) throw new IllegalStateException();
 		// Read a lookahead byte
 		int i = in.read();
diff --git a/briar-tests/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderImplTest.java b/briar-tests/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderImplTest.java
index ae4de10db118212b346d89fa4f28d14c1f79e46b..5d74a63d560599b9c9153bfaa3efa481134a9592 100644
--- a/briar-tests/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderImplTest.java
+++ b/briar-tests/src/org/briarproject/data/BdfReaderImplTest.java
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ public class BdfReaderImplTest extends BriarTestCase {
 		String unicode = "\uFDD0\uFDD1\uFDD2\uFDD3";
 		String hex = StringUtils.toHexString(unicode.getBytes("UTF-8"));
 		// STRING_8 tag, "foo", the empty string, and the test string
-		setContents("41" + "03" + "666F6F" +"41" + "00" + "41" + "0C" + hex);
+		setContents("41" + "03" + "666F6F" + "41" + "00" + "41" + "0C" + hex);
 		assertEquals("foo", r.readString(Integer.MAX_VALUE));
 		assertEquals("", r.readString(Integer.MAX_VALUE));
 		assertEquals(unicode, r.readString(Integer.MAX_VALUE));