diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 6e20d61cb1..bfb872ba73 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,15 @@
+2000-12-06  Lars Gullik Bjønnes  <larsbj@lyx.org>
+
+	* src/lyx_cb.C (InsertAsciiFile): use a vector to temporary store
+	the file when std::string does not have push_back.
+
+	* config/lyxinclude.m4 (public): add LYX_CXX_GOOD_STD_STRING
+
+	* configure.in (INSTALL_SCRIPT): call LYX_CXX_GOOD_STD_STRING
+
+	* src/support/lstrings.C (prefixIs): use STD_STRING_IS_GOOD
+	(suffixIs): ditto
+
 2000-12-06  Jean-Marc Lasgouttes  <Jean-Marc.Lasgouttes@inria.fr>
 
 	* lib/layouts/lyxmacros.inc: do not use \verbatim@font in lyxcode.
diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
index 5bffc88452..8ae779eab5 100644
--- a/acinclude.m4
+++ b/acinclude.m4
@@ -376,6 +376,43 @@ dnl    AC_MSG_RESULT([$with_included_string])
 ])
 
 
+dnl Usage: LYX_CXX_GOOD_STD_STRING : checks whether the C++ compiler
+dnl   has a std::string that is close to the standard. So close that
+dnl   methods not found in "unstandard" std::strings are present here.
+AC_DEFUN(LYX_CXX_GOOD_STD_STRING,[
+    AC_REQUIRE([LYX_PROG_CXX])
+    AC_CACHE_CHECK([whether the systems std::string is really good],
+    [lyx_cv_std_string_good],
+    [AC_TRY_COMPILE([
+	    #include <string>
+	    using std::string;
+	],[
+	    // From a std::string that is supposed to be close to the
+	    // standard we require at least three things:
+	    // - clear() and erase()
+	    // - the strncmp of compare()
+	    // - push_back()
+	    string a("hello there");
+	    a.erase();
+	    a = "hey";
+	    char s[] = "y";
+	    int t = a.compare(a.length() - 1, 1, s);
+	    a.push_back('g');
+	    a.clear();
+	],[
+	    lyx_cv_std_string_good=yes
+	],[
+	    lyx_cv_std_string_good=no
+	    
+	])
+    ])
+    if test x$lyx_cv_std_string_good = xyes ; then
+	AC_DEFINE(STD_STRING_IS_GOOD, 1,
+	    [Define if the systems std::string is really good.])
+    fi
+])
+
+
 dnl Usage: LYX_REGEX : checks if the header regex.h is available
 dnl   if it is not available the automake variable USE_REGEX will be
 dnl   defined and the regex.h and regex.c that we provide will be used.
diff --git a/config/lyxinclude.m4 b/config/lyxinclude.m4
index 4156cbd93d..fc4594b537 100644
--- a/config/lyxinclude.m4
+++ b/config/lyxinclude.m4
@@ -376,6 +376,43 @@ dnl    AC_MSG_RESULT([$with_included_string])
 ])
 
 
+dnl Usage: LYX_CXX_GOOD_STD_STRING : checks whether the C++ compiler
+dnl   has a std::string that is close to the standard. So close that
+dnl   methods not found in "unstandard" std::strings are present here.
+AC_DEFUN(LYX_CXX_GOOD_STD_STRING,[
+    AC_REQUIRE([LYX_PROG_CXX])
+    AC_CACHE_CHECK([whether the systems std::string is really good],
+    [lyx_cv_std_string_good],
+    [AC_TRY_COMPILE([
+	    #include <string>
+	    using std::string;
+	],[
+	    // From a std::string that is supposed to be close to the
+	    // standard we require at least three things:
+	    // - clear() and erase()
+	    // - the strncmp of compare()
+	    // - push_back()
+	    string a("hello there");
+	    a.erase();
+	    a = "hey";
+	    char s[] = "y";
+	    int t = a.compare(a.length() - 1, 1, s);
+	    a.push_back('g');
+	    a.clear();
+	],[
+	    lyx_cv_std_string_good=yes
+	],[
+	    lyx_cv_std_string_good=no
+	    
+	])
+    ])
+    if test x$lyx_cv_std_string_good = xyes ; then
+	AC_DEFINE(STD_STRING_IS_GOOD, 1,
+	    [Define if the systems std::string is really good.])
+    fi
+])
+
+
 dnl Usage: LYX_REGEX : checks if the header regex.h is available
 dnl   if it is not available the automake variable USE_REGEX will be
 dnl   defined and the regex.h and regex.c that we provide will be used.
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 526b656688..400c45630a 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ dnl we do not use stl stack, or at least not on gcc 2.7, which was the
 dnl cause for this test. 
 dnl LYX_CXX_STL_STACK
 LYX_CXX_STL_STRING
+LYX_CXX_GOOD_STD_STRING
 LYX_CXX_NAMESPACES
 LYX_CXX_CHEADERS
 LYX_STD_COUNT
diff --git a/src/lyx_cb.C b/src/lyx_cb.C
index 408cb4fdfa..a723cf4ea9 100644
--- a/src/lyx_cb.C
+++ b/src/lyx_cb.C
@@ -1147,10 +1147,16 @@ void InsertAsciiFile(BufferView * bv, string const & f, bool asParagraph)
 	ifs.unsetf(ios::skipws);
 	istream_iterator<char> ii(ifs);
 	istream_iterator<char> end;
+#if !defined(USE_INCLUDED_STRING) && !defined(STD_STRING_IS_GOOD)
+	vector<char> tmp;
+	copy(ii, end, back_inserter(tmp));
+	string tmpstr(tmp.begin(), tmp.end());
+#else
 	//string tmpstr(ii, end); // yet a reason for using std::string
 	// alternate approach to get the file into a string:
 	string tmpstr;
 	copy(ii, end, back_inserter(tmpstr));
+#endif
 	// insert the string
 	current_view->hideCursor();
 	
diff --git a/src/support/lstrings.C b/src/support/lstrings.C
index 2548fd6e50..2bc3ec386b 100644
--- a/src/support/lstrings.C
+++ b/src/support/lstrings.C
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ bool prefixIs(string const & a, char const * pre)
 	if (l > a.length() || a.empty())
 		return false;
 	else {
-#if !defined(USE_INCLUDED_STRING)
+#if !defined(USE_INCLUDED_STRING) && !defined(STD_STRING_IS_GOOD)
 		return ::strncmp(a.c_str(), pre, l) == 0;
 #else
 		return a.compare(0, l, pre, l) == 0;
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ bool suffixIs(string const & a, char const * suf)
 	if (suflen > a.length())
 		return false;
 	else {
-#if !defined(USE_INCLUDED_STRING)
+#if !defined(USE_INCLUDED_STRING) && !defined(STD_STRING_IS_GOOD)
 		string const tmp(a, a.length() - suflen);
 		return ::strncmp(tmp.c_str(), suf, suflen) == 0;
 #else