diff --git a/src/include/symbol.hpp b/src/include/symbol.hpp
index 5de94a2cd..00e19571d 100644
--- a/src/include/symbol.hpp
+++ b/src/include/symbol.hpp
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
  ** - automatically maintain a symbol table at runtime to support this
  ** - provide some magic (macros) allowing to build distinct types based on symbols.
  ** 
+ ** @see symbol-impl.cpp 
  ** @see configrules.hpp
  ** @see query.hpp
  */
diff --git a/src/lib/Makefile.am b/src/lib/Makefile.am
index f5ff19566..b6f89847b 100644
--- a/src/lib/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/lib/Makefile.am
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ liblumiera_la_SOURCES =						\
 	$(liblumiera_la_srcdir)/test/testoption.cpp 		\
 	$(liblumiera_la_srcdir)/test/test-helper.cpp 		\
 	$(liblumiera_la_srcdir)/test/suite.cpp 			\
+	$(liblumiera_la_srcdir)/symbol-impl.cpp			\
 	$(liblumiera_la_srcdir)/cmdline.cpp			\
 	$(liblumiera_la_srcdir)/logging.cpp
 
diff --git a/src/lib/safeclib.h b/src/lib/safeclib.h
index d949595f8..ed0d73fd3 100644
--- a/src/lib/safeclib.h
+++ b/src/lib/safeclib.h
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 
 /**
  * @file
- * Portable and safe wrapers around some clib functions and some tools
+ * Portable and safe wrappers around some clib functions and some tools
  */
 LUMIERA_ERROR_DECLARE(NO_MEMORY);
 
diff --git a/src/lib/symbol-impl.cpp b/src/lib/symbol-impl.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4b5e9bb35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/symbol-impl.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+/*
+  Symbol(impl)  -  helpers for working with literal string IDs 
+ 
+  Copyright (C)         Lumiera.org
+    2009,               Hermann Vosseler <Ichthyostega@web.de>
+ 
+  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
+  published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
+  License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ 
+  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+  GNU General Public License for more details.
+ 
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+  Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+ 
+* *****************************************************/
+
+/** @file symbol-impl.hpp
+ ** Collection of helpers for working with the lumiera::Symbol.
+ ** 
+ ** @todo currently as of 9/09 this is more of a placeholder.
+ ** And maybe a location for collecting small bits of implementation,
+ ** which could be usable later for real Symbol and Literal datatypes.
+ ** 
+ ** lumiera::Symbol
+ ** control::CommandRegistry for usage example of the hash function.
+ ** 
+ */
+
+
+
+#include "include/symbol.hpp"
+#include "lib/safeclib.h"
+
+#include <boost/functional/hash.hpp>
+#include <cstddef>
+
+using std::size_t;
+using boost::hash_combine;
+
+
+
+
+namespace lumiera {
+  
+  /** equality on Symbol values is defined
+   *  based on the content, not the address. */
+  inline bool
+  operator== (Symbol sy1, Symbol sy2)
+  {
+    return lumiera_strncmp (sy1,sy2, STRING_MAX_RELEVANT); 
+  }
+  
+  
+  /** generating a hash value, e.g. for hashtables.
+      This function is intended to be picked up by ADL,
+      and should be usable both with  \c std::tr1 and 
+      \c <boost/functional/hash.hpp> . It is implemented
+      similar as the boost::hash specialisation for std::string */
+  size_t hash_value (Symbol sym)
+  {
+    size_t hash=0;
+    const char *pos = sym;
+    size_t maxpos = STRING_MAX_RELEVANT;
+    for ( ; pos && --maxpos; ++pos)
+      hash_combine(hash, *pos);
+    
+    return hash;
+  }
+  
+  
+  
+} // namespace lumiera
diff --git a/src/proc/asset/db.hpp b/src/proc/asset/db.hpp
index 560e43b6f..f8c136f12 100644
--- a/src/proc/asset/db.hpp
+++ b/src/proc/asset/db.hpp
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 
 #include <tr1/memory>
 #include <tr1/unordered_map>
+// #include <boost/functional/hash.hpp>   /////////TODO which boost include to use here??
 #include <boost/utility.hpp>
 
 
diff --git a/src/proc/control/command-registry.hpp b/src/proc/control/command-registry.hpp
index 975c126c9..4f0abfe56 100644
--- a/src/proc/control/command-registry.hpp
+++ b/src/proc/control/command-registry.hpp
@@ -77,13 +77,13 @@ namespace control {
     : public lib::Sync<>
     , noncopyable
     {
-      TypedAllocationManager allocator_;
-      
+      // using a hashtable to implement the index
       typedef std::tr1::unordered_map<Symbol, Command> CmdIndex;
       typedef std::map<void*, Symbol> ReverseIndex;
       
       CmdIndex index_;
       ReverseIndex ridx_;
+      TypedAllocationManager allocator_;
       
       
     public:
diff --git a/src/proc/control/command.hpp b/src/proc/control/command.hpp
index ba45edf44..fe66a53ee 100644
--- a/src/proc/control/command.hpp
+++ b/src/proc/control/command.hpp
@@ -198,16 +198,16 @@ namespace control {
   
   inline bool
   operator== (Command const& c1, Command const& c2)
-    {
-      return (!c1 && !c2)
-          || ( c1 &&  c2  && (&c1.impl() == &c2.impl())); 
-    }
+  {
+    return (!c1 && !c2)
+        || ( c1 &&  c2  && (&c1.impl() == &c2.impl())); 
+  }
   
   inline bool
   operator!= (Command const& c1, Command const& c2)
-    {
-      return ! (c1 == c2); 
-    }
+  {
+    return ! (c1 == c2); 
+  }