diff --git a/fallback.cpp b/fallback.cpp
index 2095a88c9..4a0d85668 100644
--- a/fallback.cpp
+++ b/fallback.cpp
@@ -1122,21 +1122,38 @@ int futimes(int fd, const struct timeval *times)
 
 #endif
 
-#ifndef HAVE_GETTEXT
+#if HAVE_GETTEXT
 
-char * gettext(const char * msgid)
+char * fish_gettext(const char * msgid)
+{
+    return gettext(msgid);;
+}
+
+char * fish_bindtextdomain(const char * domainname, const char * dirname)
+{
+    return bindtextdomain(domainname, dirname);
+}
+
+char * fish_textdomain(const char * domainname)
+{
+    return textdomain(domainname);
+}
+
+#else
+
+char * fish_gettext(const char * msgid)
 {
     return (char *)msgid;
 }
 
-char * bindtextdomain(const char * domainname, const char * dirname)
+char * fish_bindtextdomain(const char * domainname, const char * dirname)
 {
-    return 0;
+    return NULL;
 }
 
-char * textdomain(const char * domainname)
+char * fish_textdomain(const char * domainname)
 {
-    return 0;
+    return NULL;
 }
 
 #endif
diff --git a/fallback.h b/fallback.h
index 9d52498e2..503bf07c7 100644
--- a/fallback.h
+++ b/fallback.h
@@ -387,24 +387,16 @@ int futimes(int fd, const struct timeval *times);
 
 #endif
 
-#ifndef HAVE_GETTEXT
+/* autoconf may fail to detect gettext (645), so don't define a function call gettext or we'll get build errors */
 
-/**
-   Fallback implementation of gettext. Just returns the original string.
-*/
-char * gettext(const char * msgid);
+/** Fallback implementation of gettext. Just returns the original string. */
+char * fish_gettext(const char * msgid);
 
-/**
-   Fallback implementation of bindtextdomain. Does nothing.
-*/
-char * bindtextdomain(const char * domainname, const char * dirname);
+/** Fallback implementation of bindtextdomain. Does nothing. */
+char * fish_bindtextdomain(const char * domainname, const char * dirname);
 
-/**
-   Fallback implementation of textdomain. Does nothing.
-*/
-char * textdomain(const char * domainname);
-
-#endif
+/** Fallback implementation of textdomain. Does nothing. */
+char * fish_textdomain(const char * domainname);
 
 #ifndef HAVE_DCGETTEXT
 
diff --git a/fish_tests.cpp b/fish_tests.cpp
index 94679facf..86b2365d8 100644
--- a/fish_tests.cpp
+++ b/fish_tests.cpp
@@ -1698,6 +1698,12 @@ void history_tests_t::test_history_speed(void)
 */
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
+    std::string tmp = "sldfjsdlkfjsdlkfjlf";
+    for (size_t i=0; i < 1000000; i++) {
+        str2wcstring(tmp);
+    }
+    exit(0);
+
     setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
     srand(time(0));
     configure_thread_assertions_for_testing();
@@ -1714,6 +1720,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     builtin_init();
     reader_init();
     env_init();
+    
 
     test_format();
     test_escape();
diff --git a/history.cpp b/history.cpp
index 9f99c4857..af76caf3d 100644
--- a/history.cpp
+++ b/history.cpp
@@ -662,13 +662,13 @@ static bool extract_prefix_and_unescape_yaml(std::string &key, std::string &valu
     size_t where = line.find(":");
     if (where != std::string::npos)
     {
-        key = line.substr(0, where);
+        key.assign(line, 0, where);
 
         // skip a space after the : if necessary
         size_t val_start = where + 1;
         if (val_start < line.size() && line.at(val_start) == ' ')
             val_start++;
-        value = line.substr(val_start);
+        value.assign(line, val_start, line.size() - val_start);
 
         unescape_yaml(key);
         unescape_yaml(value);
@@ -717,12 +717,10 @@ history_item_t history_t::decode_item_fish_2_0(const char *base, size_t len)
 
         if (key == "when")
         {
-            /* Parse an int from the timestamp */
-            long tmp = 0;
-            if (sscanf(value.c_str(), "%ld", &tmp) > 0)
-            {
-                when = tmp;
-            }
+            /* Parse an int from the timestamp. Should this fail, strtol returns 0; that's acceptable. */
+            char *end = NULL;
+            long tmp = strtol(value.c_str(), &end, 0);
+            when = tmp;
         }
         else if (key == "paths")
         {
diff --git a/mimedb.cpp b/mimedb.cpp
index 9f8d93809..cf02c70c5 100644
--- a/mimedb.cpp
+++ b/mimedb.cpp
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ static int launch_pos=0;
    gettext alias
 */
 #ifdef USE_GETTEXT
-#define _(string) gettext(string)
+#define _(string) fish_gettext(string)
 #else
 #define _(string) (string)
 #endif
@@ -1210,8 +1210,8 @@ static void launch(char *filter, const string_list_t &files, size_t fileno)
 static void locale_init()
 {
     setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
-    bindtextdomain(PACKAGE_NAME, LOCALEDIR);
-    textdomain(PACKAGE_NAME);
+    fish_bindtextdomain(PACKAGE_NAME, LOCALEDIR);
+    fish_textdomain(PACKAGE_NAME);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/wutil.cpp b/wutil.cpp
index fe5a3f49f..03b55c89a 100644
--- a/wutil.cpp
+++ b/wutil.cpp
@@ -439,8 +439,8 @@ wcstring wbasename(const wcstring &path)
 static void wgettext_really_init()
 {
     pthread_mutex_init(&wgettext_lock, NULL);
-    bindtextdomain(PACKAGE_NAME, LOCALEDIR);
-    textdomain(PACKAGE_NAME);
+    fish_bindtextdomain(PACKAGE_NAME, LOCALEDIR);
+    fish_textdomain(PACKAGE_NAME);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -469,7 +469,7 @@ const wchar_t *wgettext(const wchar_t *in)
     if (val == NULL)
     {
         cstring mbs_in = wcs2string(key);
-        char *out = gettext(mbs_in.c_str());
+        char *out = fish_gettext(mbs_in.c_str());
         val = new wcstring(format_string(L"%s", out));
     }
     errno = err;