diff --git a/internal/client/daemon.go b/internal/client/daemon.go
index ed85910..2940f58 100644
--- a/internal/client/daemon.go
+++ b/internal/client/daemon.go
@@ -336,5 +336,11 @@ func (daemon *Daemon) areAllRemotesAvailable() bool {
 func (daemon *Daemon) chooseRemoteConnectionForCppCompilation(cppInFile string) *RemoteConnection {
 	hasher := fnv.New32a()
 	_, _ = hasher.Write([]byte(filepath.Base(cppInFile)))
-	return daemon.remoteConnections[int(hasher.Sum32())%len(daemon.remoteConnections)]
+	// Reduce in uint32, not int. Where int is 32 bits (armv7, i386), int(hasher.Sum32())
+	// is negative for every hash with the top bit set -- about half of all file names --
+	// and Go's % keeps the sign of the dividend, so the index could come out negative
+	// and panic. With len == 1 it never did (x%1 == 0 for any x), which masked this
+	// entirely; with len == n a name panics when its negative hash is not a multiple
+	// of n, i.e. for (n-1)/2n of all names -- a quarter of them at two servers.
+	return daemon.remoteConnections[hasher.Sum32()%uint32(len(daemon.remoteConnections))]
 }
diff --git a/internal/client/daemon_test.go b/internal/client/daemon_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ad1405
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/client/daemon_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+package client
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strconv"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func makeDaemonWithRemotes(numRemotes int) *Daemon {
+	conns := make([]*RemoteConnection, numRemotes)
+	for i := range conns {
+		conns[i] = &RemoteConnection{remoteHost: fmt.Sprintf("host%d", i)}
+	}
+	return &Daemon{remoteConnections: conns}
+}
+
+// chooseRemoteConnectionForCppCompilation used to reduce the FNV hash in `int`:
+//
+//	daemon.remoteConnections[int(hasher.Sum32())%len(daemon.remoteConnections)]
+//
+// Where `int` is 32 bits, that conversion is negative for every hash with the top
+// bit set -- about half of all file names -- and Go's % keeps the sign of the
+// dividend, so the index could come out negative and panic the daemon. It is not
+// every such name: with n remotes the result is negative unless the hash is a
+// multiple of n, so (n-1)/2n of all names panic, a quarter of them at n == 2.
+// A single remote masked it completely, because x%1 == 0 for any x.
+//
+// This is the arch-specific half of the guard, and it is honest about it: on a
+// 64-bit host the old code cannot produce a negative index, so the test would
+// pass against the bug and prove nothing. Skip rather than report a green that
+// did not exercise anything. Run the suite under GOARCH=386 or GOARCH=arm to
+// actually execute this.
+func TestChooseRemoteConnectionIndexIsNonNegativeOn32Bit(t *testing.T) {
+	if strconv.IntSize != 32 {
+		t.Skipf("int is %d bits here; this regression only reproduces where int is 32 bits (GOARCH=386, GOARCH=arm)", strconv.IntSize)
+	}
+
+	for _, numRemotes := range []int{2, 3, 4, 5, 8} {
+		daemon := makeDaemonWithRemotes(numRemotes)
+		for i := 0; i < 20000; i++ {
+			cppInFile := fmt.Sprintf("src/file%d.cpp", i)
+			if remote := daemon.chooseRemoteConnectionForCppCompilation(cppInFile); remote == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("numRemotes=%d %s: got nil remote", numRemotes, cppInFile)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// The invariant itself, which is worth checking on whatever architecture the
+// suite happens to run on: every configured remote is reachable by some file
+// name, and no name selects out of range. This one is not a guard against the
+// 32-bit bug above -- it cannot be -- so it does not skip.
+func TestChooseRemoteConnectionUsesEveryRemote(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, numRemotes := range []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8} {
+		daemon := makeDaemonWithRemotes(numRemotes)
+
+		seen := make(map[string]bool, numRemotes)
+		for i := 0; i < 20000; i++ {
+			cppInFile := fmt.Sprintf("src/file%d.cpp", i)
+			remote := daemon.chooseRemoteConnectionForCppCompilation(cppInFile)
+			if remote == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("numRemotes=%d %s: got nil remote", numRemotes, cppInFile)
+			}
+			seen[remote.remoteHost] = true
+		}
+		if len(seen) != numRemotes {
+			t.Errorf("numRemotes=%d: only %d of the remotes were ever chosen", numRemotes, len(seen))
+		}
+	}
+}