diff --git a/functions.php b/functions.php
index 87a76e1dd..59939b967 100644
--- a/functions.php
+++ b/functions.php
@@ -3134,9 +3134,7 @@
 		return array("param" => $param, "value" => $value);
 	}
 
-	function print_init_params($link) {
-		print "<init-params><![CDATA[";
-
+	function make_init_params($link) {
 		$params = array();
 
 		array_push($params, make_init_param("theme", get_user_theme($link)));
@@ -3204,9 +3202,7 @@
 		array_push($params, make_init_param("collapsed_feedlist", 
 			(int) get_pref($link, "_COLLAPSED_FEEDLIST")));
 
-		print json_encode($params);
-
-		print "]]></init-params>";
+		return $params;
 	}
 
 	function print_runtime_info($link) {
diff --git a/modules/backend-rpc.php b/modules/backend-rpc.php
index 5ff35b409..1645db96e 100644
--- a/modules/backend-rpc.php
+++ b/modules/backend-rpc.php
@@ -364,7 +364,11 @@
 			print "<rpc-reply>";
 			if (sanity_check($link)) {
 				print "<error error-code=\"0\"/>";
-				print_init_params($link);
+
+				print "<init-params><![CDATA[";
+				print json_encode(make_init_params($link));
+				print "]]></init-params>";
+
 				print_runtime_info($link);
 
 				# assign client-passed params to session