diff --git a/lib/linklist.h b/lib/linklist.h
index b766420..80b21f6 100644
--- a/lib/linklist.h
+++ b/lib/linklist.h
@@ -22,10 +22,15 @@
 #ifndef _ZEBRA_LINKLIST_H
 #define _ZEBRA_LINKLIST_H
 
+/* listnodes must always contain data to be valid. Adding an empty node
+ * to a list is invalid
+ */
 struct listnode 
 {
   struct listnode *next;
   struct listnode *prev;
+  
+  /* private member, use getdata() to retrieve, do not access directly */
   void *data;
 };
 
@@ -33,25 +38,31 @@
 {
   struct listnode *head;
   struct listnode *tail;
+
   /* invariant: count is the number of listnodes in the list */
   unsigned int count;
+
   /*
    * Returns -1 if val1 < val2, 0 if equal?, 1 if val1 > val2.
    * Used as definition of sorted for listnode_add_sort
    */
   int (*cmp) (void *val1, void *val2);
+
+  /* callback to free user-owned data when listnode is deleted. supplying
+   * this callback is very much encouraged!
+   */
   void (*del) (void *val);
 };
 
-#define nextnode(X) ((X) = (X)->next)
+#define listnextnode(X) ((X)->next)
 #define listhead(X) ((X)->head)
 #define listtail(X) ((X)->tail)
 #define listcount(X) ((X)->count)
 #define list_isempty(X) ((X)->head == NULL && (X)->tail == NULL)
-#define getdata(X) ((X)->data)
+#define listgetdata(X) (assert((X)->data != NULL), (X)->data)
 
 /* Prototypes. */
-struct list *list_new();
+struct list *list_new(); /* encouraged: set list.del callback on new lists */
 void list_free (struct list *);
 
 void listnode_add (struct list *, void *);
@@ -72,13 +83,33 @@
 void list_add_node_next (struct list *, struct listnode *, void *);
 void list_add_list (struct list *, struct list *);
 
-/* List iteration macro. */
-#define LIST_LOOP(L,V,N) \
-  for ((N) = (L)->head; (N); (N) = (N)->next) \
-    if (((V) = (N)->data) != NULL)
+/* List iteration macro. 
+ * Usage: for (ALL_LIST_ELEMENTS (...) { ... }
+ * It is safe to delete the listnode using this macro.
+ */
+#define ALL_LIST_ELEMENTS(list,node,nextnode,data) \
+  (node) = listhead(list); \
+  (node) != NULL && \
+    ((data) = listgetdata(node),(nextnode) = listnextnode(node), 1); \
+  (node) = (nextnode)
 
-/* List node add macro.  */
-#define LISTNODE_ADD(L,N) \
+/* read-only list iteration macro.
+ * Usage: as per ALL_LIST_ELEMENTS, but not safe to delete the listnode Only
+ * use this macro when it is *immediately obvious* the listnode is not
+ * deleted in the body of the loop. Does not have forward-reference overhead
+ * of previous macro.
+ */
+#define ALL_LIST_ELEMENTS_RO(list,node,data) \
+  (node) = listhead(list); \
+  (node) != NULL && ((data) = listgetdata(node), 1); \
+  (node) = listnextnode(node)
+
+/* these *do not* cleanup list nodes and referenced data, as the functions
+ * do - these macros simply {de,at}tach a listnode from/to a list.
+ */
+ 
+/* List node attach macro.  */
+#define LISTNODE_ATTACH(L,N) \
   do { \
     (N)->prev = (L)->tail; \
     if ((L)->head == NULL) \
@@ -89,8 +120,8 @@
     (L)->count++; \
   } while (0)
 
-/* List node delete macro.  */
-#define LISTNODE_DELETE(L,N) \
+/* List node detach macro.  */
+#define LISTNODE_DETACH(L,N) \
   do { \
     if ((N)->prev) \
       (N)->prev->next = (N)->next; \
@@ -103,4 +134,15 @@
     (L)->count--; \
   } while (0)
 
+/* Deprecated: 20050406 */
+#if !defined(QUAGGA_NO_DEPRECATED_INTERFACES)
+#warning "Using deprecated libzebra interfaces"
+#define LISTNODE_ADD(L,N) LISTNODE_ATTACH(L,N)
+#define LISTNODE_DELETE(L,N) LISTNODE_DETACH(L,N)
+#define nextnode(X) ((X) = (X)->next)
+#define getdata(X) listgetdata(X)
+#define LIST_LOOP(L,V,N) \
+  for (ALL_LIST_ELEMENTS_RO (L,N,V))
+#endif /* QUAGGA_NO_DEPRECATED_INTERFACES */
+
 #endif /* _ZEBRA_LINKLIST_H */