diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 73b9697a49..e3d13e736a 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,22 @@
+2000-10-18  Angus Leeming <a.leeming@ic.ac.uk>
+       * src/support/lstrings.C (lowercase, uppercase):
+       use explicit casts to remove compiler warnings.
+
+       * src/support/LRegex.C (Impl):
+       * src/support/StrPool.C (add):
+       * src/support/filetools.C (MakeAbsPath, NormalizePath, MakeRelPath)
+       (AddPath, MakeDisplayPath):
+       * src/support/lstrings.C (prefixIs, subst):
+       use correct type to remove compiler warnings.
+
+       * src/support/lstrings.[Ch] (countChar): returns string::size_type.
+
+       * src/support/lyxlib.h:
+       * src/support/mkdir.C (mkdir): change parameter to mode_t for
+       portability and to remove compiler warning with DEC cxx.
+
+       * src/support/FileInfo.[Ch] (flagRWX): ditto.
+
 2000-10-18  Jean-Marc Lasgouttes  <Jean-Marc.Lasgouttes@inria.fr>
 
 	* src/minibuffer.C (peek_event): retun 1 when there has been a
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 5c13c7a068..630f979fa8 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ from the older development version:
 - LyX now has a Preference popup where you can change most of your
   lyxrc settings [Allan, details?]
 
-- the menus can now be defined from a text file (like the toolbar) and
-  shows the keyboard bindings associated to commands.
+- The menus can now be defined in a text file, and they automatically
+  display the keyboard bindings associated with commands.
 
 - it is now possible to provide your own icons for the toolbar.
 
diff --git a/src/support/FileInfo.C b/src/support/FileInfo.C
index 3bc18c1231..944652b9e1 100644
--- a/src/support/FileInfo.C
+++ b/src/support/FileInfo.C
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ char FileInfo::typeLetter() const
 
 
 // should not be in FileInfo
-void FileInfo::flagRWX(unsigned short i, char * szString) const
+void FileInfo::flagRWX(mode_t i, char * szString) const
 {
 	szString[0] = (i & S_IRUSR) ? 'r' : '-';
 	szString[1] = (i & S_IWUSR) ? 'w' : '-';
diff --git a/src/support/FileInfo.h b/src/support/FileInfo.h
index b2f8caad18..93bbadc8fb 100644
--- a/src/support/FileInfo.h
+++ b/src/support/FileInfo.h
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ public:
 	char typeLetter() const;
 	
 	/// builds 'rwx' string describing file access rights
-	void flagRWX(unsigned short i, char * szString) const;
+	void flagRWX(mode_t i, char * szString) const;
 	
 	/// updates mode string to match suid/sgid/sticky bits
 	void setSticky(char * szString) const;
diff --git a/src/support/LRegex.C b/src/support/LRegex.C
index c6c1e938ce..1b6064abd7 100644
--- a/src/support/LRegex.C
+++ b/src/support/LRegex.C
@@ -59,10 +59,10 @@ struct LRegex::Impl {
 	{
 		regmatch_t tmp;
 		regexec(preg, str.c_str(), 1, &tmp, 0);
-		unsigned int const first = tmp.rm_so != -1 ?
-			static_cast<unsigned int>(tmp.rm_so) : string::npos;
-		unsigned int const second = tmp.rm_eo != -1 ?
-			static_cast<unsigned int>(tmp.rm_eo) : string::npos;
+		string::size_type const first = tmp.rm_so != -1 ?
+			tmp.rm_so : string::npos;
+		string::size_type const second = tmp.rm_eo != -1 ?
+			tmp.rm_eo : string::npos;
 		return make_pair(first, second - first);
 	}
 	
@@ -91,18 +91,16 @@ struct LRegex::Impl {
 		size_t const subs =
 			(preg->re_nsub != 0 ? (preg->re_nsub + 1) : 1);
 		regmatch_t * mat = new regmatch_t[subs];
-		unsigned int first = 0;
-		unsigned int second = 0;
+		string::size_type first = 0;
+		string::size_type second = 0;
 		matches.erase(matches.begin(), matches.end());
 		if (!regexec(preg, str.c_str(), subs, mat, 0)) { // some match
 			matches.reserve(subs);
 			for (size_t i = 0; i < subs; ++i) {
 				first = mat[i].rm_so != -1 ?
-					static_cast<unsigned int>
-					(mat[i].rm_so) : string::npos;
+					mat[i].rm_so : string::npos;
 				second = mat[i].rm_eo != -1 ?
-					static_cast<unsigned int>
-					(mat[i].rm_eo) : string::npos;
+					mat[i].rm_eo : string::npos;
 				matches.push_back(make_pair(first,
 							    second - first));
 			}
diff --git a/src/support/StrPool.C b/src/support/StrPool.C
index 0fc53402cc..7dd6168f17 100644
--- a/src/support/StrPool.C
+++ b/src/support/StrPool.C
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ StrPool::~StrPool()
 */
 char const * StrPool::add(string const & str)
 {
-	int s = str.length();
+	string::size_type s = str.length();
         char * buf = new char [s + 1];
         str.copy(buf, s);
         buf[s] = '\0';
diff --git a/src/support/filetools.C b/src/support/filetools.C
index 8f19df47a5..fdd8bef9e8 100644
--- a/src/support/filetools.C
+++ b/src/support/filetools.C
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ string const MakeAbsPath(string const & RelPath, string const & BasePath)
 		if (Temp == ".") continue;
 		if (Temp == "..") {
 			// Remove one level of TempBase
-			int i = TempBase.length() - 2;
+			string::difference_type i = TempBase.length() - 2;
 #ifndef __EMX__
 			if (i < 0) i = 0;
 			while (i > 0 && TempBase[i] != '/') --i;
@@ -701,7 +701,7 @@ string const NormalizePath(string const & path)
 			TempBase = "./";
 		} else if (Temp == "..") {
 			// Remove one level of TempBase
-			int i = TempBase.length() - 2;
+			string::difference_type i = TempBase.length() - 2;
 			while (i > 0 && TempBase[i] != '/')
 				--i;
 			if (i >= 0 && TempBase[i] == '/')
@@ -853,8 +853,8 @@ string const MakeRelPath(string const & abspath0, string const & basepath0)
 	if (abspath.empty())
 		return "<unknown_path>";
 
-	int const abslen = abspath.length();
-	int const baselen = basepath.length();
+	string::size_type const abslen = abspath.length();
+	string::size_type const baselen = basepath.length();
 	
 	// Find first different character
 	int i = 0;
@@ -913,9 +913,9 @@ string const AddPath(string const & path, string const & path_2)
 	}
 
 	if (!path2.empty()){
-	        int p2start = path2.find_first_not_of('/');
+	        string::size_type p2start = path2.find_first_not_of('/');
 
-		int p2end = path2.find_last_not_of('/');
+		string::size_type p2end = path2.find_last_not_of('/');
 
 		string tmp = path2.substr(p2start, p2end - p2start + 1);
 		buf += tmp + '/';
@@ -966,13 +966,13 @@ string const GetExtension(string const & name)
 string const
 MakeDisplayPath (string const & path, unsigned int threshold)
 {
-	int const l1 = path.length();
+	string::size_type const l1 = path.length();
 
 	// First, we try a relative path compared to home
 	string const home(GetEnvPath("HOME"));
 	string relhome = MakeRelPath(path, home);
 
-	unsigned int l2 = relhome.length();
+	string::size_type l2 = relhome.length();
 
 	string prefix;
 
diff --git a/src/support/lstrings.C b/src/support/lstrings.C
index 689a54be76..270af081b9 100644
--- a/src/support/lstrings.C
+++ b/src/support/lstrings.C
@@ -155,13 +155,13 @@ double strToDbl(string const & str)
 
 char lowercase(char c) 
 { 
-	return tolower(c); 
+	return char( tolower(c) ); 
 }
 
 
 char uppercase(char c) 
 { 
-	return toupper(c); 
+	return char( toupper(c) ); 
 }
 
 
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ bool prefixIs(string const & a, char const * pre)
 {
 	Assert(pre);
 	
-	unsigned int const l = strlen(pre);
+	size_t const l = strlen(pre);
 	string::size_type const alen = a.length();
 	
 	if (l > alen || a.empty())
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ bool suffixIs(string const & a, char const * suf)
 {
 	Assert(suf);
 	
-	unsigned int const suflen = strlen(suf);
+	size_t const suflen = strlen(suf);
 	if (suflen > a.length())
 		return false;
 	else {
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ bool containsOnly(char const * s, string const & cset)
 }
 
 
-unsigned int countChar(string const & a, char c)
+string::size_type countChar(string const & a, char c)
 {
 #ifdef HAVE_STD_COUNT
 	return count(a.begin(), a.end(), c);
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ string const subst(string const & a,
 	
 	string lstr(a);
 	string::size_type i = 0;
-	int olen = strlen(oldstr);
+	string::size_type olen = strlen(oldstr);
 	while((i = lstr.find(oldstr, i)) != string::npos) {
 		lstr.replace(i, olen, newstr);
 		i += newstr.length(); // We need to be sure that we dont
diff --git a/src/support/lstrings.h b/src/support/lstrings.h
index d718b57243..cc3e88acda 100644
--- a/src/support/lstrings.h
+++ b/src/support/lstrings.h
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ bool containsOnly(char const *, char const *);
 bool containsOnly(char const *, string const &);
 
 /// Counts how many of character c there is in a
-unsigned int countChar(string const & a, char c);
+string::size_type countChar(string const & a, char c);
 
 /** Extracts a token from this string at the nth delim.
   Doesn't modify the original string. Similar to strtok.
diff --git a/src/support/lyxlib.h b/src/support/lyxlib.h
index acaa2b0e4e..a159ee30d0 100644
--- a/src/support/lyxlib.h
+++ b/src/support/lyxlib.h
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ namespace lyx {
 	///
 	void abort();
         ///
-        int mkdir(string const & pathname, unsigned long int mode);
+        int mkdir(string const & pathname, mode_t mode);
 	///
 	int putenv(char const * str);
         ///
diff --git a/src/support/mkdir.C b/src/support/mkdir.C
index e3a5102ecb..66f148821e 100644
--- a/src/support/mkdir.C
+++ b/src/support/mkdir.C
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 #include "lyxlib.h"
 
-int lyx::mkdir(string const & pathname, unsigned long int mode)
+int lyx::mkdir(string const & pathname, mode_t mode)
 {
 	return ::mkdir(pathname.c_str(), mode);
 }