diff --git a/common.cpp b/common.cpp
index 90f965dab..388f68cc9 100644
--- a/common.cpp
+++ b/common.cpp
@@ -1866,7 +1866,7 @@ void bugreport()
 void sb_format_size( string_buffer_t *sb,
 		     long long sz )
 {
-	wchar_t *sz_name[]=
+	const wchar_t *sz_name[]=
 		{
 			L"kB", L"MB", L"GB", L"TB", L"PB", L"EB", L"ZB", L"YB", 0
 		}
diff --git a/exec.cpp b/exec.cpp
index 6a8e463e0..f82e66e3a 100644
--- a/exec.cpp
+++ b/exec.cpp
@@ -543,8 +543,9 @@ static void launch_process( process_t *p )
 				count++;
 			
 			res = (wchar_t **)malloc( sizeof(wchar_t*)*(count+2));
-			
-			res[0] = L"/bin/sh";
+			wchar_t sh_command[] = L"/bin/sh";
+            
+			res[0] = sh_command;
 			res[1] = p->actual_cmd;
 			
 			for( i=1;  p->argv[i]; i++ ){
@@ -553,7 +554,7 @@ static void launch_process( process_t *p )
 			
 			res[i+1] = 0;
 			p->argv = res;
-			p->actual_cmd = L"/bin/sh";
+			p->actual_cmd = sh_command;
 
 			res_real = wcsv2strv( (const wchar_t **) res);
 			
diff --git a/fish.cpp b/fish.cpp
index b7daa8a89..118652559 100644
--- a/fish.cpp
+++ b/fish.cpp
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ static int read_init()
   Parse the argument list, return the index of the first non-switch
   arguments.
  */
-static int fish_parse_opt( int argc, char **argv, char **cmd_ptr )
+static int fish_parse_opt( int argc, char **argv, const char **cmd_ptr )
 {
 	int my_optind;
 	int force_interactive=0;
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ int main( int argc, char **argv )
 {
     struct stat tmp;
 	int res=1;
-	char *cmd=0;
+	const char *cmd=0;
 	int my_optind=0;
 
 	halloc_util_init();	
diff --git a/highlight.cpp b/highlight.cpp
index 002dbc704..c9f0d7ef2 100644
--- a/highlight.cpp
+++ b/highlight.cpp
@@ -1039,7 +1039,7 @@ static void highlight_universal_internal( const wchar_t * buff,
 										 int pos )
 {	
 
-	if( (pos >= 0) && (pos < wcslen(buff)) )
+	if( (pos >= 0) && ((size_t)pos < wcslen(buff)) )
 	{
 		
 		/*
diff --git a/highlight.h b/highlight.h
index 7f2bff6d7..f7ec88770 100644
--- a/highlight.h
+++ b/highlight.h
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@
    \param pos the cursor position. Used for quote matching, etc.
    \param error a list in which a description of each error will be inserted. May be 0, in whcich case no error descriptions will be generated.
 */
-void highlight_shell( const wchar_t *, int *, int, array_list_t *, const env_vars &vars );
+void highlight_shell( const wchar_t *buff, int *color, int pos, array_list_t *error, const env_vars &vars );
 
 /**
    Perform syntax highlighting for the text in buff. Matching quotes and paranthesis are highlighted. The result is
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ void highlight_shell( const wchar_t *, int *, int, array_list_t *, const env_var
    \param pos the cursor position. Used for quote matching, etc.
    \param error a list in which a description of each error will be inserted. May be 0, in whcich case no error descriptions will be generated.
 */
-void highlight_universal( const wchar_t *, int *, int, array_list_t *, const env_vars &vars );
+void highlight_universal( const wchar_t *buff, int *color, int pos, array_list_t *error, const env_vars &vars );
 
 /**
    Translate from HIGHLIGHT_* to FISH_COLOR_* according to environment
diff --git a/mimedb.cpp b/mimedb.cpp
index d0187b284..3adc70e2e 100644
--- a/mimedb.cpp
+++ b/mimedb.cpp
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ static char *file_exists( const char *dir, const char *in )
    \param all If zero, then stop after the first filename.
    \return The number of filenames added to the list.
 */
-static int append_filenames( array_list_t *list, char *f, int all )
+static int append_filenames( array_list_t *list, const char *f, int all )
 {
 	int prev_count = al_get_count( list );
 	char *result;
diff --git a/output.cpp b/output.cpp
index 0d2490abb..b46cd2b1a 100644
--- a/output.cpp
+++ b/output.cpp
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ int writembs_internal( char *str )
 int writech( wint_t ch )
 {
 	mbstate_t state;
-	int i;
+	size_t i;
 	char buff[MB_LEN_MAX+1];
 	size_t bytes;
 
@@ -548,20 +548,20 @@ int write_escaped_str( const wchar_t *str, int max_len )
 
 int output_color_code( const wchar_t *val )
 {
-	int j, i, color=FISH_COLOR_NORMAL;
-	array_list_t el;
+	size_t i;
+    int color=FISH_COLOR_NORMAL;
 	int is_bold=0;
 	int is_underline=0;
 	
 	if( !val )
 		return FISH_COLOR_NORMAL;
 	
-	al_init( &el );
-	tokenize_variable_array( val, &el );
+    wcstring_list_t el;
+	tokenize_variable_array2( val, el );
 	
-	for( j=0; j<al_get_count( &el ); j++ )
+	for(size_t j=0; j < el.size(); j++ )
 	{
-		wchar_t *next = (wchar_t *)al_get( &el, j );
+        const wchar_t *next = el.at(j).c_str();
 		
 		is_bold |= (wcsncmp( next, L"--bold", wcslen(next) ) == 0 ) && wcslen(next)>=3;
 		is_bold |= wcscmp( next, L"-o" ) == 0;
@@ -580,9 +580,6 @@ int output_color_code( const wchar_t *val )
 		
 	}
 	
-	al_foreach( &el, &free );
-	al_destroy( &el );
-
 	return color | (is_bold?FISH_COLOR_BOLD:0) | (is_underline?FISH_COLOR_UNDERLINE:0);
 	
 }
diff --git a/proc.h b/proc.h
index e9c87da89..46fb3ea74 100644
--- a/proc.h
+++ b/proc.h
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ typedef struct job
 	    job. It is used for displaying messages about job status
 	    on the terminal.
 	*/
-	wchar_t *command;              
+	const wchar_t *command;              
 	
 	/** 
 	    A linked list of all the processes in this job.
diff --git a/set_color.cpp b/set_color.cpp
index 8def213e8..61c6312f5 100644
--- a/set_color.cpp
+++ b/set_color.cpp
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
 #define _(string) (string)
 #endif
 
-char *col[]=
+const char *col[]=
 {
 	"black",
 	"red",
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ char *col[]=
 }
 ;
 
-int col_idx[]=
+const int col_idx[]=
 {
 	0, 
 	1,
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ int translate_color( char *str )
 
 	if( *endptr || color<0 || errno )
 	{
-		int i;
+		size_t i;
 		color = -1;
 		for( i=0; i<COLORS; i++ )
 		{
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ int translate_color( char *str )
 
 void print_colors()
 {
-	int i;
+	size_t i;
 	for( i=0; i<COLORS; i++ )
 	{
 		printf( "%s\n", col[i] );
diff --git a/util.cpp b/util.cpp
index 9ebf60270..464a868bb 100644
--- a/util.cpp
+++ b/util.cpp
@@ -751,7 +751,7 @@ static anything_t al_get_generic( array_list_t *l, int pos )
 	anything_t res;
 	res.ptr_val=0;
 	
-	if( (pos >= 0) && (pos < l->pos) )
+	if( (pos >= 0) && ((size_t)pos < l->pos) )
 		res = l->arr[pos];
 
 	return res;
diff --git a/xdgmimemagic.cpp b/xdgmimemagic.cpp
index 3d2602edf..d6ee9424b 100644
--- a/xdgmimemagic.cpp
+++ b/xdgmimemagic.cpp
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ _xdg_mime_magic_parse_magic_line (FILE              *magic_file,
   int c;
   int end_of_file;
   int indent = 0;
-  int bytes_read;
+  size_t bytes_read;
 
   assert (magic_file != NULL);
 
@@ -460,7 +460,7 @@ _xdg_mime_magic_parse_magic_line (FILE              *magic_file,
 	  _xdg_mime_magic_matchlet_free (matchlet);
 	  return XDG_MIME_MAGIC_EOF;
 	}
-      if (matchlet->range_length == -1)
+      if (matchlet->range_length == (unsigned int)-1)
 	{
 	  _xdg_mime_magic_matchlet_free (matchlet);
 	  return XDG_MIME_MAGIC_ERROR;
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ _xdg_mime_magic_parse_magic_line (FILE              *magic_file,
       /* We clean up the matchlet, byte swapping if needed */
       if (matchlet->word_size > 1)
 	{
-	  int i;
+	  size_t i;
 	  if (matchlet->value_length % matchlet->word_size != 0)
 	    {
 	      _xdg_mime_magic_matchlet_free (matchlet);
@@ -519,7 +519,7 @@ _xdg_mime_magic_matchlet_compare_to_data (XdgMimeMagicMatchlet *matchlet,
 					  const void           *data,
 					  size_t                len)
 {
-  int i, j;
+  size_t i, j;
 
   for (i = matchlet->offset; i <= matchlet->offset + matchlet->range_length; i++)
     {