diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 073c696..9061cea 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -332,8 +332,8 @@ If you find one — please report it 🙂
 
 ## Static Analysis (Codacy / cppcheck)
 
-- Run `scripts/cppcheck.sh` locally or in Codacy. It invokes `cppcheck` with `--library=std.cfg --check-config --enable=all --std=c99 --inline-suppr --suppress=missingIncludeSystem` and includes:
+- Run `scripts/cppcheck.sh` locally or in Codacy. It invokes `cppcheck` with `--library=std.cfg --check-config --enable=all --std=c99 --inline-suppr` and includes:
   - `$PS2SDK/ee/include`, `$PS2SDK/iop/include`, `$PS2SDK/common/include` (defaulting to `/usr/local/ps2dev/ps2sdk`)
   - Project headers under `include/`
   - Analysis-only PS2SDK shims under `tools/codacy_shims/ps2sdk/` and minimal standard-library shims under `tools/codacy_shims/stdlib/` to avoid “missing include” findings when the real SDK or libc headers are unavailable
-- If Codacy’s Cppcheck runner cannot see the PS2SDK headers, configure it to load `cppcheck-suppressions.txt` (e.g., `--suppressions-list=cppcheck-suppressions.txt`) to silence environment-only `missingInclude` / `missingIncludeSystem` noise without changing real includes.
+- If Codacy’s Cppcheck runner cannot see the PS2SDK headers, point it at the shim headers under `tools/codacy_shims/` to avoid missing-include noise without masking real issues.
diff --git a/mk_kelf.sh b/mk_kelf.sh
index 07336d4..db7caee 100644
--- a/mk_kelf.sh
+++ b/mk_kelf.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ make banner
 
 DATE=$(date "+%d-%m-%Y")
 SHA8=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
+: "${DATE:?DATE is unset or empty}"
+: "${SHA8:?SHA8 is unset or empty}"
 TARGET="PS2BBL_KELF-[$DATE]-[$SHA8]"
 
 : "${TARGET:?TARGET not set}"
@@ -53,5 +55,6 @@ if [ "$TARGET" = "/" ]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
+: "${TARGET:?TARGET is unset or empty}"
 rm -rf -- "${TARGET:?}/"
 echo "done!"
diff --git a/scripts/cppcheck.sh b/scripts/cppcheck.sh
index 7353a6a..7d970ba 100755
--- a/scripts/cppcheck.sh
+++ b/scripts/cppcheck.sh
@@ -23,9 +23,6 @@ exec cppcheck \
   --enable=all \
   --std=c99 \
   --inline-suppr \
-  --suppressions-list="${PROJECT_ROOT}/cppcheck-suppressions.txt" \
-  --suppress=missingIncludeSystem \
-  --suppress=missingInclude \
   "${INCLUDE_PATHS[@]}" \
   "${PROJECT_ROOT}/src" \
   "${PROJECT_ROOT}/include"
diff --git a/src/OSDHistory.c b/src/OSDHistory.c
index 710323d..fc28211 100644
--- a/src/OSDHistory.c
+++ b/src/OSDHistory.c
@@ -129,10 +129,6 @@ int LoadHistoryFile(int port)
     fd = open(fullpath, O_RDONLY);
     result = 0;
     if (fd >= 0) {
-        /* Flawfinder: ignore (bounded read into fixed-size HistoryEntries buffer) */
-        // cppcheck-suppress readBufferSize
-        // cppcheck-suppress bufferAccessOutOfBounds
-        // Use bounded read helper for Codacy CWE-120/CWE-20 compliance.
         ssize_t r = safe_read_fully_bin(fd, HistoryEntries, HISTORY_SIZE);
         if (r != (ssize_t)HISTORY_SIZE)
             result = -EIO;
diff --git a/src/util_safeio.c b/src/util_safeio.c
index a506d5d..f476f8c 100644
--- a/src/util_safeio.c
+++ b/src/util_safeio.c
@@ -1,11 +1,6 @@
 #include "util_safeio.h"
 
-#ifdef __CPPCHECK__
-typedef long ssize_t;
-extern ssize_t read(int, void *, unsigned int);
-#else
 #include <unistd.h>
-#endif
 
 /* Centralized bounded read helpers to address Codacy CWE-120/CWE-20 findings. */
 
@@ -15,42 +10,26 @@ static ssize_t safe_read_loop(int fd, char *buf, size_t buf_sz, int nul_terminat
         return -1;
     }
 
-#ifdef __CPPCHECK__
-    /* Cppcheck-only: avoid false-positive CWE-120 on bounded read loops. */
-    size_t max_read = buf_sz;
-    if (nul_terminate) {
-        if (buf_sz == 1) {
-            buf[0] = '\0';
-            return 0;
-        }
-        max_read = buf_sz - 1;
-    }
-    ssize_t r = read(fd, buf, (unsigned int)max_read);
-    if (r < 0) {
-        return r;
+    if (nul_terminate && buf_sz == 1) {
+        buf[0] = '\0';
+        return 0;
     }
+
+    size_t max_payload = buf_sz;
     if (nul_terminate) {
-        size_t term_at = ((size_t)r < buf_sz) ? (size_t)r : (buf_sz - 1);
-        buf[term_at] = '\0';
+        max_payload = buf_sz - 1;
     }
-    return r;
-#else
-    size_t offset = 0;
-    while (offset < buf_sz) {
-        size_t max_read = buf_sz - offset;
 
-        if (nul_terminate) {
-            if (max_read <= 1) {
-                break; // Leave space for the terminator.
-            }
-            max_read -= 1;
+    size_t offset = 0;
+    while (offset < max_payload) {
+        size_t to_read = max_payload - offset;
+        ssize_t r = read(fd, buf + offset, to_read);
+        if (r < 0) {
+            return -1;
         }
-
-        ssize_t r = read(fd, buf + offset, max_read);
-        if (r <= 0) {
+        if (r == 0) {
             break;
         }
-
         offset += (size_t)r;
     }
 
@@ -59,7 +38,6 @@ static ssize_t safe_read_loop(int fd, char *buf, size_t buf_sz, int nul_terminat
     }
 
     return (ssize_t)offset;
-#endif
 }
 
 ssize_t safe_read_once_nt(int fd, char *buf, size_t buf_sz)