diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c2c89c2aba..ecb4cd26c3 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -147,6 +147,9 @@ AC_SUBST(AIKSAURUS_LIBS)
 
 LYX_USE_INCLUDED_BOOST
 
+# Needed for our char_type
+AC_CHECK_SIZEOF(wchar_t)
+
 ### Setup libtool
 dnl Dirty trick ahead: disable libtool checking for a fortran compiler
 dnl see http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gnu.libtool.general/6699
diff --git a/src/LaTeX.h b/src/LaTeX.h
index 2860e68d6c..6e2d0c6197 100644
--- a/src/LaTeX.h
+++ b/src/LaTeX.h
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 #include "outputparams.h"
 
+#include "support/docstring.h"
+
 #include <boost/utility.hpp>
 #include <boost/signal.hpp>
 
diff --git a/src/errorlist.h b/src/errorlist.h
index 39ab893f7d..a593adcf66 100644
--- a/src/errorlist.h
+++ b/src/errorlist.h
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 #ifndef ERRORLIST_H
 #define ERRORLIST_H
 
-#include "support/types.h"
+#include "support/docstring.h"
 
 #include <vector>
 #include <string>
diff --git a/src/frontends/Painter.h b/src/frontends/Painter.h
index 1cca72c19b..9dd8731c44 100644
--- a/src/frontends/Painter.h
+++ b/src/frontends/Painter.h
@@ -15,9 +15,7 @@
 
 #include "LColor.h"
 
-#include "support/types.h"
-
-#include <string>
+#include "support/docstring.h"
 
 
 class LyXFont;
diff --git a/src/frontends/font_metrics.h b/src/frontends/font_metrics.h
index a1bd2725c5..9c6becdab9 100644
--- a/src/frontends/font_metrics.h
+++ b/src/frontends/font_metrics.h
@@ -13,9 +13,7 @@
 #ifndef FONT_METRICS_H
 #define FONT_METRICS_H
 
-#include "support/types.h"
-
-#include <string>
+#include "support/docstring.h"
 
 
 class LyXFont;
diff --git a/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.h b/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.h
index d1e8de8935..9574965f41 100644
--- a/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.h
+++ b/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.h
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 #include "lyxlength.h"
 //#include "lengthcombo.h"
 
-#include "support/types.h"
+#include "support/docstring.h"
 
 #include <vector>
 
diff --git a/src/lyxfunc.h b/src/lyxfunc.h
index 7fa82bb621..7a2b322e69 100644
--- a/src/lyxfunc.h
+++ b/src/lyxfunc.h
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 #include "kbsequence.h"
 #include "lfuns.h"
 
-#include "support/types.h"
+#include "support/docstring.h"
 
 #include <boost/shared_ptr.hpp>
 #include <boost/signals/trackable.hpp>
diff --git a/src/lyxlex.h b/src/lyxlex.h
index 3dd942eea8..18a95aa26a 100644
--- a/src/lyxlex.h
+++ b/src/lyxlex.h
@@ -17,12 +17,11 @@
 #ifndef LYXLEX_H
 #define LYXLEX_H
 
-#include "support/types.h"
+#include "support/docstring.h"
 
 #include <boost/utility.hpp>
 
 #include <iosfwd>
-#include <string>
 
 
 ///
diff --git a/src/metricsinfo.h b/src/metricsinfo.h
index d55c3f4e4e..669679d39c 100644
--- a/src/metricsinfo.h
+++ b/src/metricsinfo.h
@@ -13,9 +13,7 @@
 #define METRICSINFO_H
 
 #include "lyxfont.h"
-#include "support/types.h"
-
-#include <string>
+#include "support/docstring.h"
 
 class BufferView;
 
diff --git a/src/support/docstring.h b/src/support/docstring.h
index a17d4832d6..7b248f6ab1 100644
--- a/src/support/docstring.h
+++ b/src/support/docstring.h
@@ -13,13 +13,14 @@
 #ifndef LYX_DOCSTRING_H
 #define LYX_DOCSTRING_H
 
-#include <boost/cstdint.hpp>
+#include "support/types.h"
+
 #include <string>
 
 namespace lyx {
 
 /// String type for storing the main text in UCS4 encoding
-typedef std::basic_string<boost::uint32_t> docstring;
+typedef std::basic_string<char_type> docstring;
 
 /// Creates a docstring from a C string of ASCII characters
 docstring const from_ascii(char const *);
@@ -60,7 +61,7 @@ lyx::docstring operator+(lyx::docstring const & l, char r);
 lyx::docstring operator+(char l, lyx::docstring const & r);
 
 
-#if defined(__GNUC__) && defined(__GNUC_MINOR__) && __GNUC__ == 3 && __GNUC_MINOR__ < 4
+#if SIZEOF_WCHAR_T != 4 && defined(__GNUC__) && defined(__GNUC_MINOR__) && __GNUC__ == 3 && __GNUC_MINOR__ < 4
 // Missing char_traits methods in gcc 3.3 and older. Taken from gcc 4.2svn.
 namespace std {
 
diff --git a/src/support/lstrings.h b/src/support/lstrings.h
index 36b556a81c..18a35ff5bc 100644
--- a/src/support/lstrings.h
+++ b/src/support/lstrings.h
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 #ifndef LSTRINGS_H
 #define LSTRINGS_H
 
-#include "support/types.h"
+#include "support/docstring.h"
 
 #include <vector>
 
diff --git a/src/support/types.h b/src/support/types.h
index 65928821c3..446aa3d60f 100644
--- a/src/support/types.h
+++ b/src/support/types.h
@@ -16,21 +16,22 @@
 #ifndef LYX_TYPES_H
 #define LYX_TYPES_H
 
-#include "docstring.h"
-
 #include <boost/cstdint.hpp>
 
 #include <cstddef>
-#include <string>
 
 namespace lyx {
 
-	// The type used to hold characters in paragraphs
-	typedef boost::uint32_t char_type; // Possibly the ucs-4 type we will use
-	//typedef wchar_t char_type;  // The wide char type CJK-LyX uses
-	//typedef char char_type;       // Current narrow char type in use
-
-	//typedef std::wstring docstring;
+	/// The type used to hold characters in paragraphs
+#if defined(HAVE_WCHAR_T) && SIZEOF_WCHAR_T == 4
+	// Prefer this if possible because GNU libstdc++ has usable
+	// std::ctype<wchar_t> locale facets but not
+	// std::ctype<boost::uint32_t>. gcc older than 3.4 is also missing
+	// usable std::char_traits<boost::uint32_t>.
+	typedef wchar_t char_type;
+#else
+	typedef boost::uint32_t char_type;
+#endif
 
 	/// a type for positions used in paragraphs
 	// needs to be signed for a while to hold the special value -1 that is