diff --git a/src/Buffer.cpp b/src/Buffer.cpp
index 6499c89f9b..1135b18ef0 100644
--- a/src/Buffer.cpp
+++ b/src/Buffer.cpp
@@ -750,7 +750,7 @@ Buffer::ReadStatus Buffer::readFile(Lexer & lex, FileName const & filename,
 	}
 
 	lex.next();
-	string const token(lex.getString());
+	string const token = lex.getString();
 
 	if (!lex) {
 		Alert::error(_("Document could not be read"),
diff --git a/src/BufferParams.cpp b/src/BufferParams.cpp
index 303fe2fcb2..8d6c4d770b 100644
--- a/src/BufferParams.cpp
+++ b/src/BufferParams.cpp
@@ -903,7 +903,7 @@ bool BufferParams::writeLaTeX(odocstream & os, LaTeXFeatures & features,
 		// when Vietnamese is used, babel must directly be loaded with the
 		// language options, not in the class options, see
 		// http://www.mail-archive.com/lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org/msg129417.html
-		int viet = language_options.str().find("vietnam");
+		size_t viet = language_options.str().find("vietnam");
 		// viet = string::npos when not found
 		if (lyxrc.language_global_options && !language_options.str().empty()
 			&& viet == string::npos)
@@ -1575,7 +1575,7 @@ string const BufferParams::babelCall(string const & lang_opts) const
 	// when Vietnamese is used, babel must directly be loaded with the
 	// language options, see
 	// http://www.mail-archive.com/lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org/msg129417.html
-	int viet = lang_opts.find("vietnam");
+	size_t viet = lang_opts.find("vietnam");
 	// viet = string::npos when not found
 	if (!lyxrc.language_global_options || viet != string::npos)
 		return "\\usepackage[" + lang_opts + "]{babel}";
diff --git a/src/support/FileName.cpp b/src/support/FileName.cpp
index b8cd5b3c43..606299ec11 100644
--- a/src/support/FileName.cpp
+++ b/src/support/FileName.cpp
@@ -17,8 +17,10 @@
 #include "support/qstring_helpers.h"
 
 #include <QFile>
+#include <QFileInfo>
 
-#include <boost/assert.hpp>
+#include <boost/filesystem/exception.hpp>
+#include <boost/filesystem/operations.hpp>
 
 #include <map>
 #include <sstream>
@@ -28,17 +30,15 @@
 using std::map;
 using std::string;
 
-
 namespace lyx {
 namespace support {
 
 
-FileName::FileName()
-{}
-
-
-FileName::~FileName()
-{}
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+//
+// FileName
+//
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
 
 FileName::FileName(string const & abs_filename)
@@ -81,6 +81,25 @@ FileName const FileName::fromFilesystemEncoding(string const & name)
 }
 
 
+bool FileName::exists() const
+{
+	return QFileInfo(toqstr(name_)).exists();
+}
+
+
+bool FileName::isReadOnly() const
+{
+	QFileInfo const fi(toqstr(name_));
+	return fi.isReadable() && !fi.isWritable();
+}
+
+
+std::time_t FileName::lastModified() const
+{
+	return boost::filesystem::last_write_time(toFilesystemEncoding());
+}
+
+
 bool operator==(FileName const & lhs, FileName const & rhs)
 {
 	return lhs.absFilename() == rhs.absFilename();
@@ -111,6 +130,13 @@ std::ostream & operator<<(std::ostream & os, FileName const & filename)
 }
 
 
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+//
+// DocFileName
+//
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+
 DocFileName::DocFileName()
 	: save_abs_path_(true)
 {}
diff --git a/src/support/FileName.h b/src/support/FileName.h
index 1d4420b61e..2fc0be4d95 100644
--- a/src/support/FileName.h
+++ b/src/support/FileName.h
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ namespace support {
 class FileName {
 public:
 	/// Constructor for empty filenames
-	FileName();
+	FileName() {}
 	/** Constructor for nonempty filenames.
 	 * explicit because we don't want implicit conversion of relative
 	 * paths in function arguments (e.g. of unlink).
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public:
 	 * Encoding is always UTF-8.
 	 */
 	explicit FileName(std::string const & abs_filename);
-	virtual ~FileName();
+	virtual ~FileName() {}
 	/** Set a new filename.
 	 * \param filename the file in question. Must have an absolute path.
 	 * Encoding is always UTF-8.
@@ -51,6 +51,14 @@ public:
 	 * Only use this for accessing the file, e.g. with an fstream.
 	 */
 	std::string const toFilesystemEncoding() const;
+
+	/// returns true if the file exists
+	bool exists() const;
+	/// returns time of last write access
+	std::time_t lastModified() const;
+	/// return true when file is readable but not writabel
+	bool isReadOnly() const;
+
 	/**
 	 * Get a FileName from \p name in the encoding used by the file system.
 	 * Only use this for filenames you got directly from the file system,
@@ -102,7 +110,7 @@ public:
 	std::string const relFilename(std::string const & buffer_path = std::string()) const;
 	/// \param buf_path if empty, uses `pwd`
 	std::string const outputFilename(std::string const & buf_path = std::string()) const;
-
+	
 	/** @returns a mangled representation of the absolute file name
 	 *  suitable for use in the temp dir when, for example, converting
 	 *  an image file to another format.