diff --git a/src/common/cmdline.cpp b/src/common/cmdline.cpp
index dec1a0620..eca0b18bb 100644
--- a/src/common/cmdline.cpp
+++ b/src/common/cmdline.cpp
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ namespace util
   
   /** create as a tokenized <i>copy</i> of the current commandline.
    *  Note that argv[0] is allways ignored. */
-  Cmdline::Cmdline (int argc, char* argv[])
+  Cmdline::Cmdline (int argc, const char** argv)
     : vector<string> (noneg(argc-1))
     {
       for (int i=1; i<argc; ++i)
diff --git a/src/common/cmdline.hpp b/src/common/cmdline.hpp
index 8d7b1e44f..3f5455587 100644
--- a/src/common/cmdline.hpp
+++ b/src/common/cmdline.hpp
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ namespace util
   class Cmdline : public VectS
     {
     public:
-      Cmdline (int argc, char* argv[]);
+      Cmdline (int argc, const char** argv);
       explicit Cmdline (const string cmdline);
       
       operator string () const;
diff --git a/src/common/error.cpp b/src/common/error.cpp
index d27e60904..64dea31a5 100644
--- a/src/common/error.cpp
+++ b/src/common/error.cpp
@@ -128,10 +128,12 @@ namespace lumiera
   {
     const Error* err=dynamic_cast<const Error*> (&cause);
     if (err)
-      if (isnil (err->cause_))
-        return cause.what(); // cause is root cause
-      else
-        return err->cause_; // cause was caused by another exception
+      {
+        if (isnil (err->cause_))
+          return cause.what(); // cause is root cause
+        else
+          return err->cause_; // cause was caused by another exception
+      }
     
     // unknown other exception type
     return cause.what ();
diff --git a/src/proc/asset/category.cpp b/src/proc/asset/category.cpp
index dcb767ccf..3d178e549 100644
--- a/src/proc/asset/category.cpp
+++ b/src/proc/asset/category.cpp
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ namespace asset
    */
   Category::operator string ()  const
   {
-    char *kinds[6] = { "AUDIO"
+    typedef const char * const SymID;  
+
+    SymID kinds[6] = { "AUDIO"
                      , "VIDEO"
                      , "EFFECT"
                      , "CODEC"
diff --git a/src/proc/mobject/session/defsregistry.hpp b/src/proc/mobject/session/defsregistry.hpp
index 64f84ab32..73925e11a 100644
--- a/src/proc/mobject/session/defsregistry.hpp
+++ b/src/proc/mobject/session/defsregistry.hpp
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ namespace mobject
     using boost::lambda::var;  
     
     namespace // Implementation details //////////////////TODO better a named implementation namespace (avoids warnings on gcc 4.3)
+//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////FIXME this is a *real* problem, because this namespace create storage, which it shouldn't      
       {
       struct TableEntry 
         {
diff --git a/tests/common/mainsuite.cpp b/tests/common/mainsuite.cpp
index 3ef740744..455bfd98e 100644
--- a/tests/common/mainsuite.cpp
+++ b/tests/common/mainsuite.cpp
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ using lumiera::ON_GLOBAL_SHUTDOWN;
  *  cmd line argument.
  *  Note: to ease debugging, we don't catch any exceptions. 
  */
-int main (int argc, char* argv[])
+int main (int argc, const char* argv[])
 {
   util::Cmdline args (argc,argv);
   test::TestOption optparser (args);
diff --git a/tests/common/singletontestmocktest.cpp b/tests/common/singletontestmocktest.cpp
index ea5e1d70e..2be296bb1 100644
--- a/tests/common/singletontestmocktest.cpp
+++ b/tests/common/singletontestmocktest.cpp
@@ -50,11 +50,11 @@ namespace lumiera
     class TestSingletonO
       {
         int callCnt;
-        char* typid;
+        Symbol typid;
         format msg;
 
       public:
-        TestSingletonO(char* ty="TestSingletonO")
+        TestSingletonO(Symbol ty="TestSingletonO")
             : callCnt (0), typid(ty), msg ("%s::doIt() call=%d\n")
         {
           TRACE (singleton, "ctor %s", typid);
diff --git a/tests/common/test/cmdlinewrappertest.cpp b/tests/common/test/cmdlinewrappertest.cpp
index 668ce8121..f5d1eaf25 100644
--- a/tests/common/test/cmdlinewrappertest.cpp
+++ b/tests/common/test/cmdlinewrappertest.cpp
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ namespace util
          */
         void testStandardCmdlineformat()
           {
-            char* fakeArg[3] = {"CMD", "one ", "two"};
+            const char* fakeArg[3] = {"CMD", "one ", "two"};
             Cmdline theCmdline(3, fakeArg);
             cout << "Standard Cmdlineformat:" << theCmdline << "\n";
           }