diff -aur src.old/BuiltIn/stringOpSymbol.cc src/BuiltIn/stringOpSymbol.cc
--- src.old/BuiltIn/stringOpSymbol.cc	2008-07-08 19:43:23.000000000 +0200
+++ src/BuiltIn/stringOpSymbol.cc	2008-07-09 13:02:19.000000000 +0200
@@ -220,18 +220,7 @@
 	      case CODE('f', 'l'):
 		{
 		  bool error;
-		  //double fl = stringToDouble(left.c_str(), error);
-		  //
-		  //	This messing about is needed because Rope::c_str()
-		  //	fails in libstdc++-v3
-		  //
-		  int len = left.length();
-		  char* t = new char[len + 1];
-		  left.copy(t);
-		  t[len] = '\0';
-		  double fl = stringToDouble(t, error);
-		  delete [] t;
-		  //
+		  double fl = stringToDouble(left.c_str(), error);
 		  if (error)
 		    goto fail;
 		  return floatSymbol->rewriteToFloat(subject, context, fl);
@@ -591,38 +580,28 @@
 		  if (!isalnum(subject[j]))
 		    return false;
 		}
-	      char* t = new char[len];  // longer than needed but who cares
 	      int dLen = len - (i + 1);
-	      subject.copy(i + 1, dLen, t);
-	      t[dLen] = '\0';
-	      if (mpz_set_str(denominator.get_mpz_t(), t, base) != 0)
+	      crope subject_subrope;
+	      subject_subrope = subject.substr(i + 1, dLen);
+	      if (mpz_set_str(denominator.get_mpz_t(), subject_subrope.c_str(), base) != 0)
 		{
-		  delete [] t;
 		  return false;
 		}
-	      subject.copy(0, i, t);
-	      t[i] = '\0';
-	      if (mpz_set_str(numerator.get_mpz_t(), t, base) != 0)
+	      subject_subrope = subject.substr(0,i);
+	      if (mpz_set_str(numerator.get_mpz_t(), subject_subrope.c_str(), base) != 0)
 		{
-		  delete [] t;
 		  return false;
 		}
-	      delete [] t;
 	      return true;
 	    }
 	  else
 	    return false;
 	}
     }
-  char* t = new char[len + 1];
-  subject.copy(t);
-  t[len] = '\0';
-  if (mpz_set_str(numerator.get_mpz_t(), t, base) == 0)
+  if (mpz_set_str(numerator.get_mpz_t(), subject.c_str(), base) == 0)
     {
-      delete [] t;
       denominator = 0;
       return true;
     }
-  delete [] t;
   return false;    
 }
diff -aur src.old/Utility/macros.hh src/Utility/macros.hh
--- src.old/Utility/macros.hh	2008-07-08 19:43:23.000000000 +0200
+++ src/Utility/macros.hh	2008-07-08 20:08:01.000000000 +0200
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@
 #include <iostream>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <algorithm>
+#include <cstring>
 using namespace std;
 
 //