diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 371c526..6549dfb 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 version: 2 # use CircleCI 2.0
 
-x-dockerbuild-7: &dockerbuild-7
+x-dockerbuild-phpdbg: &dockerbuild-phpdbg
   steps:
     - checkout
     - run: sudo docker-php-ext-install sockets
@@ -19,16 +19,28 @@ x-dockerbuild-5: &dockerbuild-5
     - run: composer lint
 
 jobs:
+  test-8.0:
+    <<: *dockerbuild-phpdbg
+    docker:
+      - image: circleci/php:8.0-node-browsers
+  test-7.4:
+    <<: *dockerbuild-phpdbg
+    docker:
+      - image: circleci/php:7.4-node-browsers
+  test-7.3:
+    <<: *dockerbuild-phpdbg
+    docker:
+      - image: circleci/php:7.3-node-browsers
   test-7.2:
-    <<: *dockerbuild-7
+    <<: *dockerbuild-phpdbg
     docker:
       - image: circleci/php:7.2-node-browsers
   test-7.1:
-    <<: *dockerbuild-7
+    <<: *dockerbuild-phpdbg
     docker:
       - image: circleci/php:7.1-node-browsers
   test-7.0:
-    <<: *dockerbuild-7
+    <<: *dockerbuild-phpdbg
     docker:
       - image: circleci/php:7.0-node-browsers
   test-5.6:
@@ -40,6 +52,9 @@ workflows:
   version: 2
   check_compile:
     jobs:
+      - test-8.0
+      - test-7.4
+      - test-7.3
       - test-7.2
       - test-7.1
       - test-7.0
diff --git a/.editorconfig b/.editorconfig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c64479
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.editorconfig
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# EditorConfig is awesome: https://EditorConfig.org
+
+# top-most EditorConfig file
+root = true
+
+[*]
+end_of_line = lf
+insert_final_newline = true
+charset = utf-8
+indent_style = space
+indent_size = 4
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..780e683
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+*.php text eol=lf
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2d13ef1..330464a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -46,6 +46,64 @@ $statsd = new DogStatsd(
 
 DogStatsd constructor, takes a configuration array. See the full list of available [DogStatsD Client instantiation parameters](https://docs.datadoghq.com/developers/dogstatsd/?code-lang=php#client-instantiation-parameters).
 
+#### Migrating from legacy configuration
+
+In some setups, the use of environment variables can cause surprises, such as warnings, test-failures, etc.
+
+There is a new argument `transport_factory`, which takes an argument that _implements_ `DataDog\TransportFactory` interface. This has one method `create`, which can return, one or more classes implementing `DataDog\TransportMechanism`. This can be particularly useful if you experience warnings, errors or other output from the PHP built-in's this library uses for communicating stats.
+
+##### Defining custom implementation of transport factory
+
+```php
+<?php
+
+namespace YourOrg\Metrics;
+
+/**
+ * This class works around the decisions the constructor of DogStatsd class
+ * Which has default convenience functionality, which can make your code
+ * more difficult to reason about.
+ */
+final class CustomTransportFactory implements DataDog\TransportFactory
+{
+    private $host;
+    private $port;
+
+    public function __construct($host, $port)
+    {
+        if (empty($host) || empty($port)) {
+            throw new \ArgumentException("Must specify host and port");
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function create()
+    {
+        return new Ipv4UdpTransport(
+            $this->host,
+            $this->port
+        );
+    }
+}
+```
+
+##### Instantiating datadog with your new class
+```php
+<?php
+
+require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
+
+use DataDog\DogStatsd;
+use YourOrg\Metrics\CustomTransportFactory;
+
+$statsd = new DogStatsd(
+    array('transport_factory' =>, new CustomTransportFactory())
+);
+```
+
+#### Why this structure?
+
+The reason a factory is used to create an instance, is that DogStatsD opens sockets on the machine running this code. If sockets are left open and unclosed, then the second time a socket is to be created, more problems arise.
+
 ### Origin detection over UDP in Kubernetes
 
 Origin detection is a method to detect which pod DogStatsD packets are coming from in order to add the pod's tags to the tag list.
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 0879208..df52530 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
         "sort-packages": true
     },
     "require-dev": {
-        "phpunit/phpunit": "5.7.27",
+        "yoast/phpunit-polyfills": "^1.0.1",
         "squizlabs/php_codesniffer": "^3.3"
     },
     "scripts": {
diff --git a/src/BatchedDogStatsd.php b/src/BatchedDogStatsd.php
index ffb7822..1c0e84f 100644
--- a/src/BatchedDogStatsd.php
+++ b/src/BatchedDogStatsd.php
@@ -19,13 +19,13 @@ class BatchedDogStatsd extends DogStatsd
     public static $maxBufferLength = 50;
 
 
-    public function __construct(array $config = array())
+    public function __construct(array $config = array(), $transportFactory = null)
     {
         // by default the telemetry is enabled for BatchedDogStatsd
         if (!isset($config["disable_telemetry"])) {
             $config["disable_telemetry"] = false;
         }
-        parent::__construct($config);
+        parent::__construct($config, $transportFactory);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/BridgingTransportFactory.php b/src/BridgingTransportFactory.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d836eab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/BridgingTransportFactory.php
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace DataDog;
+
+final class BridgingTransportFactory implements TransportFactory
+{
+    private $socketPath;
+    private $host;
+    private $port;
+
+    public function __construct($socketPath = null, $host = null, $port = null)
+    {
+        $this->socketPath = $socketPath;
+        $this->host = $host;
+        $this->port = $port;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return TransportMechanism
+    */
+    public function create()
+    {
+        if (is_null($this->socketPath)) {
+            return new Ipv4UdpTransport(
+                $this->host,
+                $this->port
+            );
+        }
+
+        return new UnixSocketTransport($this->socketPath);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/DogStatsd.php b/src/DogStatsd.php
index 20e0187..14dfac6 100644
--- a/src/DogStatsd.php
+++ b/src/DogStatsd.php
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ class DogStatsd
      */
     private $decimalPrecision;
 
+    /**
+     * @var TransportFactory
+     */
+    private $transportFactory;
+
     private static $eventUrl = '/api/v1/events';
 
     // Used for the telemetry tags
@@ -75,10 +80,11 @@ class DogStatsd
      * curl_ssl_verify_peer,
      * api_key and app_key,
      * decimal_precision
+     * transport_factory
      *
      * @param array $config
      */
-    public function __construct(array $config = array())
+    public function __construct(array $config = array(), $transportFactory = null)
     {
         $this->host = isset($config['host'])
             ? $config['host'] : (getenv('DD_AGENT_HOST')
@@ -90,6 +96,12 @@ public function __construct(array $config = array())
 
         $this->socketPath = isset($config['socket_path']) ? $config['socket_path'] : null;
 
+        $this->transportFactory = (
+            isset($config['transport_factory']) ?
+            $transportFactory :
+            new BridgingTransportFactory($this->socketPath, $this->host, $this->port)
+        );
+
         $this->datadogHost = isset($config['datadog_host']) ? $config['datadog_host'] : 'https://app.datadoghq.com';
         $this->curlVerifySslHost = isset($config['curl_ssl_verify_host']) ? $config['curl_ssl_verify_host'] : 2;
         $this->curlVerifySslPeer = isset($config['curl_ssl_verify_peer']) ? $config['curl_ssl_verify_peer'] : 1;
@@ -465,15 +477,7 @@ public function flush($message)
         $message .= $this->flushTelemetry();
 
         // Non - Blocking UDP I/O - Use IP Addresses!
-        $socket = is_null($this->socketPath) ? socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, SOL_UDP)
-            : socket_create(AF_UNIX, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
-        socket_set_nonblock($socket);
-
-        if (!is_null($this->socketPath)) {
-            $res = socket_sendto($socket, $message, strlen($message), 0, $this->socketPath);
-        } else {
-            $res = socket_sendto($socket, $message, strlen($message), 0, $this->host, $this->port);
-        }
+        $res = $this->transportFactory->create()->sendMessage($message);
 
         if ($res !== false) {
             $this->resetTelemetry();
@@ -483,8 +487,6 @@ public function flush($message)
             $this->bytes_dropped += strlen($message);
             $this->packets_dropped += 1;
         }
-
-        socket_close($socket);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/Ipv4UdpTransport.php b/src/Ipv4UdpTransport.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..406f4fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Ipv4UdpTransport.php
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace DataDog;
+
+final class Ipv4UdpTransport implements TransportMechanism
+{
+    private $host;
+    private $port;
+    private $socket;
+
+    public function __construct($host, $port)
+    {
+        $this->host = $host;
+        $this->port = $port;
+        $this->socket = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, SOL_UDP);
+        socket_set_nonblock($this->socket);
+    }
+
+    public function sendMessage($message)
+    {
+        return (bool) socket_sendto($this->socket, $message, strlen($message), 0, $this->host, $this->port);
+    }
+
+    public function __destruct()
+    {
+        socket_close($this->socket);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/TransportFactory.php b/src/TransportFactory.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..859fb09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/TransportFactory.php
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace DataDog;
+
+/**
+ * Contract for creating an instance of TransportMechanism.
+ * For Runtime creation of implementations of the TransportMechanism contract.
+ * Used for statsd. Can be used to re-factor constructor logic.
+ */
+interface TransportFactory
+{
+    /**
+     * @return TransportMechanism
+     */
+    public function create();
+}
diff --git a/src/TransportMechanism.php b/src/TransportMechanism.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d45666
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/TransportMechanism.php
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace DataDog;
+
+/**
+ * Contract for all-transports of DataDog statsd flush.
+ * Can be used to for test-doubles, fallback implementations; future iterations.
+ */
+interface TransportMechanism
+{
+    /**
+     * @return bool
+     */
+    public function sendMessage($message);
+}
diff --git a/src/UnixSocketTransport.php b/src/UnixSocketTransport.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb0b41a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/UnixSocketTransport.php
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace DataDog;
+
+final class UnixSocketTransport implements TransportMechanism
+{
+    private $socket;
+    private $socketPath;
+
+    public function __construct($socketPath)
+    {
+        $this->socket = socket_create(AF_UNIX, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
+        socket_set_nonblock($this->socket);
+        $this->socketPath = $socketPath;
+    }
+
+    public function sendMessage($message)
+    {
+        return (bool) socket_sendto($this->socket, $message, strlen($message), 0, $this->socketPath);
+    }
+
+    public function __destruct()
+    {
+        socket_close($this->socket);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/TestHelpers/CurlSpyTestCase.php b/tests/TestHelpers/CurlSpyTestCase.php
index 050afcf..09f6e2f 100644
--- a/tests/TestHelpers/CurlSpyTestCase.php
+++ b/tests/TestHelpers/CurlSpyTestCase.php
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 namespace DataDog\TestHelpers;
 
-use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+use Yoast\PHPUnitPolyfills\TestCases\TestCase;
 
 $curlSpy = new CurlSpy();
 
@@ -11,13 +11,12 @@ class CurlSpyTestCase extends TestCase
     /**
      * Set up a spy object to capture calls to built in curl functions
      */
-    protected function setUp()
+    protected function set_up()
     {
         global $curlSpy;
 
         $curlSpy = new CurlSpy();
-
-        parent::setUp();
+        parent::set_up();
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/TestHelpers/SocketSpyTestCase.php b/tests/TestHelpers/SocketSpyTestCase.php
index 24b1514..7b85dda 100644
--- a/tests/TestHelpers/SocketSpyTestCase.php
+++ b/tests/TestHelpers/SocketSpyTestCase.php
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 namespace DataDog\TestHelpers;
 
 use DataDog\DogStatsd;
-use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+use Yoast\PHPUnitPolyfills\TestCases\TestCase;
 
 /**
  * Making this variable global to this file is necessary for interacting with
@@ -24,13 +24,13 @@ class SocketSpyTestCase extends TestCase
     /**
      * Set up a spy object to capture calls to global built in socket functions
      */
-    protected function setUp()
+    protected function set_up()
     {
         global $socketSpy;
 
         $socketSpy = new SocketSpy();
 
-        parent::setUp();
+        parent::set_up();
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/UnitTests/BatchedDogStatsdTest.php b/tests/UnitTests/BatchedDogStatsdTest.php
index ae707de..7594d91 100644
--- a/tests/UnitTests/BatchedDogStatsdTest.php
+++ b/tests/UnitTests/BatchedDogStatsdTest.php
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@
 
 class BatchedDogStatsdTest extends SocketSpyTestCase
 {
-    protected function setUp()
+    protected function set_up()
     {
-        parent::setUp();
+        parent::set_up();
 
         // Flush the buffer to reset state for next test
         BatchedDogStatsd::$maxBufferLength = 50;
diff --git a/tests/UnitTests/DogStatsd/SocketsTest.php b/tests/UnitTests/DogStatsd/SocketsTest.php
index 7163884..41ee0a4 100644
--- a/tests/UnitTests/DogStatsd/SocketsTest.php
+++ b/tests/UnitTests/DogStatsd/SocketsTest.php
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@
 
 class SocketsTest extends SocketSpyTestCase
 {
-    public function setUp()
+    public function set_up()
     {
-        parent::setUp();
+        parent::set_up();
 
         // Reset the stubs for mt_rand() and mt_getrandmax()
         global $mt_rand_stub_return_value;
diff --git a/tests/curl_and_error_log_function_stubs.php b/tests/curl_and_error_log_function_stubs.php
index 4d964a4..ebf7c64 100644
--- a/tests/curl_and_error_log_function_stubs.php
+++ b/tests/curl_and_error_log_function_stubs.php
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ function curl_init($url = null)
 
     $curlSpy->curlInitWasCalledWithArg($url);
 
-    $resource = fopen('/dev/null', 'r');
+    $resource = tmpfile();
 
     $curlSpy->curlInitDidReturn($resource);
 
diff --git a/tests/socket_function_stubs.php b/tests/socket_function_stubs.php
index cc2c7d7..554f877 100644
--- a/tests/socket_function_stubs.php
+++ b/tests/socket_function_stubs.php
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ function socket_create($domain, $type, $protocol)
 
     // A PHP resource of unimportance, useful primarily to assert that our stubs
     // of the global socket functions return or take a deterministic value.
-    $resource = fopen('/dev/null', 'r');
+    $resource = tmpfile();
 
     $socketSpy->socketCreateDidReturn($resource);