diff --git a/src/common.rs b/src/common.rs
index c1001c7ef..49b51df13 100644
--- a/src/common.rs
+++ b/src/common.rs
@@ -1410,27 +1410,6 @@ macro_rules! write_to_output {
     }};
 }
 
-/// A rusty port of the C++ `read_loop()` function from `common.cpp`. This should be deprecated in
-/// favor of native rust read/write methods at some point.
-///
-/// Returns the number of bytes read or an IO error.
-pub fn read_loop<Fd: AsRawFd>(fd: &Fd, buf: &mut [u8]) -> std::io::Result<usize> {
-    let fd = fd.as_raw_fd();
-    loop {
-        match nix::unistd::read(fd, buf) {
-            Ok(read) => {
-                return Ok(read);
-            }
-            Err(err) => {
-                if matches!(err, nix::Error::EAGAIN | nix::Error::EINTR) {
-                    continue;
-                }
-                return Err(std::io::Error::from(err));
-            }
-        }
-    }
-}
-
 /// Write the given paragraph of output, redoing linebreaks to fit `termsize`.
 pub fn reformat_for_screen(msg: &wstr, termsize: &Termsize) -> WString {
     let mut buff = WString::new();
diff --git a/src/env_universal_common.rs b/src/env_universal_common.rs
index 139a7505e..183200609 100644
--- a/src/env_universal_common.rs
+++ b/src/env_universal_common.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #![allow(clippy::bad_bit_mask)]
 
 use crate::common::{
-    read_loop, str2wcstring, timef, unescape_string, valid_var_name, wcs2zstring, UnescapeFlags,
+    str2wcstring, timef, unescape_string, valid_var_name, wcs2zstring, UnescapeFlags,
     UnescapeStringStyle,
 };
 use crate::env::{EnvVar, EnvVarFlags, VarTable};
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@
 use std::collections::HashSet;
 use std::ffi::CString;
 use std::fs::File;
-use std::io::Write;
+use std::io::{Read, Write};
 use std::mem::MaybeUninit;
-use std::os::fd::{AsRawFd, RawFd};
+use std::os::fd::AsRawFd;
 use std::os::unix::prelude::MetadataExt;
 
 // Pull in the O_EXLOCK constant if it is defined, otherwise set it to 0.
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ fn load_from_path(&mut self, callbacks: &mut CallbackDataList) -> bool {
     }
 
     fn load_from_path_narrow(&mut self, callbacks: &mut CallbackDataList) -> bool {
-        // Check to see if the file is unchanged. We do this again in load_from_fd, but this avoids
+        // Check to see if the file is unchanged. We do this again in load_from_file, but this avoids
         // opening the file unnecessarily.
         if self.last_read_file_id != INVALID_FILE_ID
             && file_id_for_path_narrow(&self.narrow_vars_path) == self.last_read_file_id
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ fn load_from_file(&mut self, file: &mut File, callbacks: &mut CallbackDataList)
         } else {
             // Read a variables table from the file.
             let mut new_vars = VarTable::new();
-            let format = Self::read_message_internal(file.as_raw_fd(), &mut new_vars);
+            let format = Self::read_message_internal(file, &mut new_vars);
 
             // Hacky: if the read format is in the future, avoid overwriting the file: never try to
             // save.
@@ -726,20 +726,20 @@ fn parse_message_2x_internal(msg: &wstr, vars: &mut VarTable, storage: &mut WStr
         }
     }
 
-    fn read_message_internal(fd: RawFd, vars: &mut VarTable) -> UvarFormat {
-        // Read everything from the fd. Put a sane limit on it.
+    fn read_message_internal(file: &File, vars: &mut VarTable) -> UvarFormat {
         let mut contents = vec![];
-        let mut buffer = [0_u8; 4096];
-        while contents.len() < MAX_READ_SIZE {
-            match read_loop(&fd, &mut buffer) {
-                Ok(0) | Err(_) => break,
-                Ok(amt) => contents.extend_from_slice(&buffer[..amt]),
-            }
+        // Read everything from the file. Put a sane limit on it.
+        // TODO: Ideally, the cast should be checked at compile time.
+        if let Err(e) = file
+            .take(u64::try_from(MAX_READ_SIZE).expect("MAX_READ_SIZE must fit into u64"))
+            .read_to_end(&mut contents)
+        {
+            FLOG!(warning, "Failed to read file:", e);
         }
 
         // Handle overlong files.
-        if contents.len() > MAX_READ_SIZE {
-            contents.truncate(MAX_READ_SIZE);
+        // We read at most `MAX_READ_SIZE` bytes due to the `take`.
+        if contents.len() == MAX_READ_SIZE {
             // Back up to a newline.
             let newline = contents.iter().rposition(|c| *c == b'\n').unwrap_or(0);
             contents.truncate(newline);