diff --git a/src/jacklib.py b/src/jacklib.py
diff --git a/src/jacklib/__init__.py b/src/jacklib/__init__.py
diff --git a/src/jacklib/jacklib.py b/src/jacklib/jacklib.py
diff --git a/src/jacklib_helpers.py → src/jacklib/jacklib_helpers.py b/src/jacklib_helpers.py → src/jacklib/jacklib_helpers.py
@@ -16,15 +16,15 @@
 #
 # For a full copy of the GNU General Public License see the COPYING file
 
-# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Try Import jacklib
 
-try:
-    import jacklib
-except ImportError:
-    jacklib = None
+from __future__ import absolute_import, print_function, unicode_literals
 
-# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+from . import jacklib
+
+
+# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Get JACK error status as string
 
 def get_jack_status_error_string(cStatus):
@@ -33,41 +33,43 @@ def get_jack_status_error_string(cStatus):
     if status == 0x0:
         return ""
 
-    errorString = ""
+    errorString = []
 
-    if status & jacklib.JackFailure:
-        errorString += "Overall operation failed;\n"
+    if status == jacklib.JackFailure:
+        # Only include this generic message if no other error status is set
+        errorString.append("Overall operation failed")
     if status & jacklib.JackInvalidOption:
-        errorString += "The operation contained an invalid or unsupported option;\n"
+        errorString.append("The operation contained an invalid or unsupported option")
     if status & jacklib.JackNameNotUnique:
-        errorString += "The desired client name was not unique;\n"
+        errorString.append("The desired client name was not unique")
     if status & jacklib.JackServerStarted:
-        errorString += "The JACK server was started as a result of this operation;\n"
+        errorString.append("The JACK server was started as a result of this operation")
     if status & jacklib.JackServerFailed:
-        errorString += "Unable to connect to the JACK server;\n"
+        errorString.append("Unable to connect to the JACK server")
     if status & jacklib.JackServerError:
-        errorString += "Communication error with the JACK server;\n"
+        errorString.append("Communication error with the JACK server")
     if status & jacklib.JackNoSuchClient:
-        errorString += "Requested client does not exist;\n"
+        errorString.append("Requested client does not exist")
     if status & jacklib.JackLoadFailure:
-        errorString += "Unable to load internal client;\n"
+        errorString.append("Unable to load internal client")
     if status & jacklib.JackInitFailure:
-        errorString += "Unable to initialize client;\n"
+        errorString.append("Unable to initialize client")
     if status & jacklib.JackShmFailure:
-        errorString += "Unable to access shared memory;\n"
+        errorString.append("Unable to access shared memory")
     if status & jacklib.JackVersionError:
-        errorString += "Client's protocol version does not match;\n"
+        errorString.append("Client's protocol version does not match")
     if status & jacklib.JackBackendError:
-        errorString += "Backend Error;\n"
+        errorString.append("Backend Error")
     if status & jacklib.JackClientZombie:
-        errorString += "Client is being shutdown against its will;\n"
+        errorString.append("Client is being shutdown against its will")
 
-    return errorString.strip().rsplit(";", 1)[0] + "."
+    return ";\n".join(errorString) + "."
 
-# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Convert C char** -> Python list
 
-def c_char_p_p_to_list(c_char_p_p):
+def c_char_p_p_to_list(c_char_p_p, encoding=jacklib.ENCODING, errors='ignore'):
     i = 0
     retList = []
 
@@ -76,30 +78,33 @@ def c_char_p_p_to_list(c_char_p_p):
 
     while True:
         new_char_p = c_char_p_p[i]
-        if new_char_p:
-            retList.append(str(new_char_p, encoding="utf-8"))
-            i += 1
-        else:
+        if not new_char_p:
             break
 
+        retList.append(new_char_p.decode(encoding=encoding, errors=errors))
+        i += 1
+
     jacklib.free(c_char_p_p)
     return retList
 
-# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Convert C void* -> string
 
 def voidptr2str(void_p):
     char_p = jacklib.cast(void_p, jacklib.c_char_p)
     string = str(char_p.value, encoding="utf-8")
     return string
 
-# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Convert C void* -> jack_default_audio_sample_t*
 
 def translate_audio_port_buffer(void_p):
     return jacklib.cast(void_p, jacklib.POINTER(jacklib.jack_default_audio_sample_t))
 
-# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Convert a JACK midi buffer into a python variable-size list
 
 def translate_midi_event_buffer(void_p, size):

diff --git a/src/shared_canvasjack.py b/src/shared_canvasjack.py
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@
 # Imports (Custom Stuff)
 
 from shared import *
-from jacklib_helpers import *
+from jacklib import jacklib
+from jacklib.jacklib_helpers import c_char_p_p_to_list, voidptr2str
 
 from patchcanvas import patchcanvas