diff --git a/daemon/call.c b/daemon/call.c
index 7bfba0997..1a773a3f9 100644
--- a/daemon/call.c
+++ b/daemon/call.c
@@ -318,8 +318,7 @@ static size_t cb_curl_write(char *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void *userdata
 	return size * nmemb;
 }
 
-void xmlrpc_kill_calls(void *p) {
-	struct xmlrpc_helper *xh = p;
+void xmlrpc_kill_calls(struct xmlrpc_helper *xh) {
 	unsigned int tries = 0;
 
 	int els_per_ent = 2;
diff --git a/daemon/helpers.c b/daemon/helpers.c
index 259fb6f4c..a15b63ae3 100644
--- a/daemon/helpers.c
+++ b/daemon/helpers.c
@@ -205,8 +205,7 @@ static void thread_detach_cleanup(void *dtp) {
 	thread_join_me();
 }
 
-static void *thread_detach_func(void *d) {
-	struct detach_thread *dt = d;
+static void *thread_detach_func(struct detach_thread *dt) {
 	pthread_t *t;
 
 	pthread_setcancelstate(PTHREAD_CANCEL_DISABLE, NULL);
@@ -267,7 +266,7 @@ static void *thread_detach_func(void *d) {
 	return NULL;
 }
 
-void thread_create_detach_prio(void (*f)(void *), void *d, const char *scheduler, int priority,
+void __thread_create_detach_prio(void (*f)(void *), void *d, const char *scheduler, int priority,
 		const char *name)
 {
 	struct detach_thread *dt;
@@ -282,9 +281,8 @@ void thread_create_detach_prio(void (*f)(void *), void *d, const char *scheduler
 		abort();
 }
 
-static void thread_looper_helper(void *fp) {
+static void thread_looper_helper(struct looper_thread *lhp) {
 	// move object to stack and free it, so we can be cancelled without having a leak
-	struct looper_thread *lhp = fp;
 	struct looper_thread lh = *lhp;
 	g_free(lhp);
 
diff --git a/daemon/main.c b/daemon/main.c
index 41619d03a..23e1d153a 100644
--- a/daemon/main.c
+++ b/daemon/main.c
@@ -1844,9 +1844,7 @@ static void uring_thread_waker(struct thread_waker *wk) {
 	struct poller *p = wk->arg;
 	uring_poller_wake(p);
 }
-static void uring_poller_loop(void *ptr) {
-	struct poller *p = ptr;
-
+static void uring_poller_loop(struct poller *p) {
 	uring_poller_add_waker(p);
 
 	struct thread_waker wk = {.func = uring_thread_waker, .arg = p};
diff --git a/daemon/media_player.c b/daemon/media_player.c
index 5e1362dc4..2d6020a99 100644
--- a/daemon/media_player.c
+++ b/daemon/media_player.c
@@ -798,9 +798,7 @@ static void media_player_cache_packet(struct media_player_cache_entry *entry, ch
 	entry->coder.handler->handler_func(entry->coder.handler, &packet);
 }
 
-static void media_player_cache_entry_decoder_thread(void *p) {
-	struct media_player_cache_entry *entry = p;
-
+static void media_player_cache_entry_decoder_thread(struct media_player_cache_entry *entry) {
 	ilog(LOG_DEBUG, "Launching media decoder thread for %s", entry->info_str);
 
 	while (true) {
@@ -913,7 +911,7 @@ static bool media_player_cache_entry_init(struct media_player *mp, const rtp_pay
 	entry->coder.handler->packet_encoded = media_player_packet_cache;
 
 	// use low priority (10 nice)
-	thread_create_detach_prio(media_player_cache_entry_decoder_thread, obj_hold(entry), NULL, 10, "mp decoder");
+	thread_create_detach_prio(media_player_cache_entry_decoder_thread, obj_get(entry), NULL, 10, "mp decoder");
 
 	media_player_cached_reader_start(mp, codec_set);
 
diff --git a/daemon/timerthread.c b/daemon/timerthread.c
index c6cca1500..b7703182b 100644
--- a/daemon/timerthread.c
+++ b/daemon/timerthread.c
@@ -65,8 +65,7 @@ void timerthread_free(struct timerthread *tt) {
 	g_free(tt->threads);
 }
 
-static void timerthread_run(void *p) {
-	struct timerthread_thread *tt = p;
+static void timerthread_run(struct timerthread_thread *tt) {
 	struct timerthread *parent = tt->parent;
 
 	struct thread_waker waker = { .lock = &tt->lock, .cond = &tt->cond };
diff --git a/lib/auxlib.c b/lib/auxlib.c
index 3b9e1376a..9e092f414 100644
--- a/lib/auxlib.c
+++ b/lib/auxlib.c
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ void service_notify(const char *message) {
 }
 
 
-int thread_create(void *(*func)(void *), void *arg, bool joinable, pthread_t *handle, const char *name) {
+int __thread_create(void *(*func)(void *), void *arg, bool joinable, pthread_t *handle, const char *name) {
 	pthread_attr_t att;
 	pthread_t thr;
 	int ret;
diff --git a/lib/auxlib.h b/lib/auxlib.h
index 0b2565dfd..9e28bc6ee 100644
--- a/lib/auxlib.h
+++ b/lib/auxlib.h
@@ -111,7 +111,13 @@ INLINE void config_load(int *argc, char ***argv, GOptionEntry *entries, const ch
 }
 
 char *get_thread_buf(void);
-int thread_create(void *(*func)(void *), void *arg, bool joinable, pthread_t *handle, const char *name);
+int __thread_create(void *(*func)(void *), void *arg, bool joinable, pthread_t *handle, const char *name);
+#define thread_create(func, arg, joinable, handle, name) ({ \
+		void *(*__func)(__typeof(arg)) = (func); \
+		void *__arg = (arg); \
+		int __ret = __thread_create((void *(*)(void *)) __func, __arg, (joinable), (handle), (name)); \
+		__ret; \
+	})
 
 unsigned int in6_addr_hash(const void *p);
 int in6_addr_eq(const void *a, const void *b);
diff --git a/lib/helpers.h b/lib/helpers.h
index f16d87bd0..036e7fdd3 100644
--- a/lib/helpers.h
+++ b/lib/helpers.h
@@ -214,12 +214,15 @@ void thread_waker_add(struct thread_waker *);
 void thread_waker_add_generic(struct thread_waker *);
 void thread_waker_del(struct thread_waker *);
 void threads_join_all(bool cancel);
-void thread_create_detach_prio(void (*)(void *), void *, const char *, int, const char *);
+void __thread_create_detach_prio(void (*)(void *), void *, const char *, int, const char *);
+#define thread_create_detach_prio(func, arg, sched, prio, name) do { \
+		void (*__func)(__typeof(arg)) = (func); \
+		void *__arg = (arg); \
+		__thread_create_detach_prio((void (*)(void *)) __func, __arg, (sched), (prio), (name)); \
+	} while (0)
 void thread_create_looper(enum thread_looper_action (*f)(void), const char *scheduler, int priority,
 		const char *name, int64_t);
-INLINE void thread_create_detach(void (*f)(void *), void *a, const char *name) {
-	thread_create_detach_prio(f, a, NULL, 0, name);
-}
+#define thread_create_detach(func, arg, name) thread_create_detach_prio(func, arg, NULL, 0, name)
 
 
 
diff --git a/lib/poller.c b/lib/poller.c
index effe8d04d..7bc61b358 100644
--- a/lib/poller.c
+++ b/lib/poller.c
@@ -327,8 +327,7 @@ out:
 	return ret;
 }
 
-void poller_loop(void *d) {
-	struct poller *p = d;
+void poller_loop(struct poller *p) {
 	int poller_size = rtpe_common_config_ptr->poller_size;
 	struct epoll_event *evs;
 
diff --git a/lib/poller.h b/lib/poller.h
index 27c96147a..19b2cc09f 100644
--- a/lib/poller.h
+++ b/lib/poller.h
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ void poller_blocked(struct poller *, void *);
 bool poller_isblocked(struct poller *, void *);
 void poller_error(struct poller *, void *);
 
-void poller_loop(void *);
+void poller_loop(struct poller *);
 
 extern bool (*rtpe_poller_add_item)(struct poller *, struct poller_item *);
 extern bool (*rtpe_poller_del_item)(struct poller *, int);
diff --git a/perf-tester/main.c b/perf-tester/main.c
index 9a087ca92..db9e4f0c7 100644
--- a/perf-tester/main.c
+++ b/perf-tester/main.c
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ G_DEFINE_AUTOPTR_CLEANUP_FUNC(DIR, closedir)
 
 
 
-static pthread_t thread_new(const char *name, void *(*fn)(void *), void *p) {
+static pthread_t __thread_new(const char *name, void *(*fn)(void *), void *p) {
 	pthread_t ret;
 	int s = pthread_create(&ret, NULL, fn, p);
 	if (s != 0)
@@ -242,6 +242,13 @@ static pthread_t thread_new(const char *name, void *(*fn)(void *), void *p) {
 	return ret;
 }
 
+#define thread_new(name, func, arg) ({ \
+		void *(*__func)(__typeof(arg)) = (func); \
+		void *__arg = (arg); \
+		pthread_t __thr = __thread_new((name), (void *(*)(void *)) __func, __arg); \
+		__thr; \
+	})
+
 
 static inline long long us_ticks_scale(long long val) {
 	return val * ticks_per_sec / 1000000;
@@ -310,7 +317,7 @@ static int got_frame(decoder_t *decoder, AVFrame *frame, void *p1, void *b) {
 }
 
 
-static void *worker(void *p) {
+static void *worker(struct worker *p) {
 	thread_cancel_disable();
 	worker_self = p;
 	worker_self->pid = gettid();
@@ -1771,9 +1778,7 @@ static void delay_measure_workers(uint milliseconds, struct stats *totals) {
 }
 
 
-static void *cpu_freq_monitor(void *p) {
-	struct thread_freq_stats *freq_stats = p;
-
+static void *cpu_freq_monitor(struct thread_freq_stats *freq_stats) {
 	while (true) {
 		struct freq_stats iter_stats = {0};