--- a/acpid.c	
+++ a/acpid.c	
@@ -456,6 +456,7 @@ void
 clean_exit_with_status(int status)
 {
 	acpid_cleanup_rules(1);
+	delete_all_connections();
 	acpid_log(LOG_NOTICE, "exiting");
 	unlink(pidfile);
 	exit(status);
--- a/connection_list.c	
+++ a/connection_list.c	
@@ -35,9 +35,9 @@ 
 /*---------------------------------------------------------------*/
 /* private objects */
 
-#define MAX_CONNECTIONS 20
+static int capacity = 0;
 
-static struct connection connection_list[MAX_CONNECTIONS];
+static struct connection *connection_list = NULL;
 
 static int nconnections = 0;
 
@@ -56,12 +56,20 @@ add_connection(struct connection *p)
 {
 	if (nconnections < 0)
 		return;
-	if (nconnections >= MAX_CONNECTIONS) {
-		acpid_log(LOG_ERR, "Too many connections.");
-		/* ??? This routine should return -1 in this situation so that */
-		/*   callers can clean up any open fds and whatnot.  */
-		return;
-	}
+
+	/* if the list is full, allocate more space */
+	if (nconnections >= capacity) {
+		/* no more than 1024 */
+		if (capacity > 1024) {
+			acpid_log(LOG_ERR, "Too many connections.");
+			return;
+		}
+
+		/* another 20 */
+		capacity += 20;
+		connection_list =
+			realloc(connection_list, sizeof(struct connection) * capacity);
+	}
 
 	if (nconnections == 0)
 		FD_ZERO(&allfds);
@@ -82,7 +89,9 @@ delete_connection(int fd)
 {
 	int i;
 
-	close(fd);
+	/* close anything other than stdin/stdout/stderr */
+	if (fd > 2)
+		close(fd);
 
 	/* remove from the fd set */
 	FD_CLR(fd, &allfds);
@@ -110,6 +119,21 @@ delete_connection(int fd)
 
 /*---------------------------------------------------------------*/
 
+void
+delete_all_connections(void)
+{
+	/* while there are still connections to delete */
+	while (nconnections) {
+		/* delete the connection at the end of the list */
+		delete_connection(connection_list[nconnections-1].fd);
+	}
+
+	free(connection_list);
+	connection_list = NULL;
+}
+
+/*---------------------------------------------------------------*/
+
 struct connection *
 find_connection(int fd)
 {
--- a/connection_list.h	
+++ a/connection_list.h	
@@ -75,4 +75,7 @@ extern const fd_set *get_fdset(void);
 /* get the highest fd that was added to the list */
 extern int get_highestfd(void);
 
+/* delete all connections, closing the fds */
+extern void delete_all_connections(void);
+
 #endif /* CONNECTION_LIST_H__ */