diff --git a/src/frontends/qt2/QLPainter.C b/src/frontends/qt2/QLPainter.C
index 471e00ed3c..197f39f315 100644
--- a/src/frontends/qt2/QLPainter.C
+++ b/src/frontends/qt2/QLPainter.C
@@ -257,14 +257,16 @@ Painter & QLPainter::text(int x, int y,
 		encoding = encodings.symbol_encoding();
 
 	QString str;
+#if QT_VERSION >= 0x030000
 	str.setLength(ls);
 	for (size_t i = 0; i < ls; ++i)
 		str[i] = QChar(encoding->ucs(s[i]));
-
-#if QT_VERSION >= 0x030000
 	// HACK: QT3 refuses to show single compose characters
 	if (ls = 1 && str[0].unicode() >= 0x05b0 && str[0].unicode() <= 0x05c2)
 		str = ' '+str;
+#else
+	for (size_t i = 0; i < ls; ++i)
+		str += QChar(encoding->ucs(s[i]));
 #endif
 
 	if (f.realShape() != LyXFont::SMALLCAPS_SHAPE) {
diff --git a/src/frontends/qt2/qfont_metrics.C b/src/frontends/qt2/qfont_metrics.C
index 57b65a2eb1..44992d5049 100644
--- a/src/frontends/qt2/qfont_metrics.C
+++ b/src/frontends/qt2/qfont_metrics.C
@@ -85,9 +85,14 @@ int width(char const * s, size_t ls, LyXFont const & f)
 		encoding = encodings.symbol_encoding();
 
 	QString str;
+#if QT_VERSION >= 0x030000
 	str.setLength(ls);
 	for (size_t i = 0; i < ls; ++i)
 		str[i] = QChar(encoding->ucs(s[i]));
+#else
+	for (size_t i = 0; i < ls; ++i)
+		str += QChar(encoding->ucs(s[i]));
+#endif
 
 	if (f.realShape() != LyXFont::SMALLCAPS_SHAPE) {
 		return metrics(f).width(str);