diff --git a/src/sys/bsd.rs b/src/sys/bsd.rs
index 6e772fa4..60c99b8f 100644
--- a/src/sys/bsd.rs
+++ b/src/sys/bsd.rs
@@ -56,13 +56,18 @@ fn allocate_loop<F: Fn(*mut c_void, size_t) -> libc::ssize_t>(f: F) -> io::Resul
         |buf| unsafe {
             let (ptr, len) = slice_parts(buf);
             let new_len = cvt(f(ptr, len))?;
-            assert!(
-                new_len <= len,
-                "OS returned length {new_len} greater than buffer size {len}"
-            );
-            Ok(slice::from_raw_parts_mut(ptr.cast(), new_len))
+            if new_len < len {
+                Ok(slice::from_raw_parts_mut(ptr.cast(), new_len))
+            } else {
+                // If the length of the value isn't strictly smaller than the length of the value
+                // read, there may be more to read. Fake an ERANGE error so we can try again with a
+                // bigger buffer.
+                Err(io::Error::from_raw_os_error(crate::sys::ERANGE))
+            }
         },
-        || cvt(f(ptr::null_mut(), 0)),
+        // Estimate size + 1 because, on freebsd, the only way to tell if we've read the entire
+        // value is read a value smaller than the buffer we passed.
+        || Ok(cvt(f(ptr::null_mut(), 0))? + 1),
     )
 }
 
diff --git a/src/util.rs b/src/util.rs
index 12e89766..2c2ca222 100644
--- a/src/util.rs
+++ b/src/util.rs
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ where
     S: FnMut() -> io::Result<usize>,
 {
     // Start by assuming the return value is <= 4KiB. If it is, we can do this in one syscall.
-    const INITIAL_BUFFER_SIZE: usize = 4096;
+    const INITIAL_BUFFER_SIZE: usize = 2;
     match get_value(&mut [MaybeUninit::<u8>::uninit(); INITIAL_BUFFER_SIZE]) {
         Ok(val) => return Ok(val.to_vec()),
         Err(e) if e.raw_os_error() != Some(crate::sys::ERANGE) => return Err(e),