diff --git a/builtin_complete.cpp b/builtin_complete.cpp
index 5ea10487c..49e09f91c 100644
--- a/builtin_complete.cpp
+++ b/builtin_complete.cpp
@@ -555,8 +555,6 @@ static int builtin_complete( parser_t &parser, wchar_t **argv )
 			{
 				recursion_level++;
 			
-//				comp = al_halloc( 0 );
-			
 				complete( do_complete, comp );
 			
 				for( size_t i=0; i< comp.size() ; i++ )
@@ -585,7 +583,6 @@ static int builtin_complete( parser_t &parser, wchar_t **argv )
 					}
 				}
 			
-//				halloc_free( comp );
 				recursion_level--;
 			}
 		
diff --git a/complete.cpp b/complete.cpp
index ae7e6fef2..8ae81f59b 100644
--- a/complete.cpp
+++ b/complete.cpp
@@ -215,36 +215,10 @@ void completion_allocate(std::vector<completion_t> &completions, const wcstring
 }
 
 /**
-   Destroys various structures used for tab-completion and free()s the memory used by them.
-*/
-static void complete_destroy()
-{
-	complete_entry_t *i=first_entry, *prev;
-	
-	while( i )
-	{
-		prev = i;
-		i=i->next;
-		complete_free_entry( prev );
-	}
-	first_entry = 0;
-	
-	completion_autoloader.unload_all();
-	
-}
-
-/**
-   The init function for the completion code. Currently, all it really
-   does is make sure complete_destroy is called on exit.
+   The init function for the completion code. Does nothing.
 */
 static void complete_init()
 {
-	static int is_init = 0;
-	if( !is_init )
-	{
-		is_init = 1;
-		halloc_register_function_void( global_context, &complete_destroy );
-	}
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/env.cpp b/env.cpp
index b5989e7cd..58a647b12 100644
--- a/env.cpp
+++ b/env.cpp
@@ -769,15 +769,12 @@ int env_set( const wchar_t *key,
 		
 	if( val && contains( key, L"PWD", L"HOME" ) )
 	{
-		void *context = halloc( 0, 0 );
-		const wchar_t *val_canonical = path_make_canonical( context, val );
-		if( wcscmp( val_canonical, val ) )
-		{
-			int res = env_set( key, val_canonical, var_mode );
-			halloc_free( context );
-			return res;
-		}
-		halloc_free( context );
+        /* Canoncalize our path; if it changes, recurse and try again. */
+        wcstring val_canonical = val;
+        path_make_canonical(val_canonical);
+        if (val != val_canonical) {
+            return env_set( key, val_canonical.c_str(), var_mode );
+        }
 	}
 
 	if( (var_mode & ENV_USER ) && is_read_only(key) )
diff --git a/fish_tests.cpp b/fish_tests.cpp
index 66b6a6432..e329120fe 100644
--- a/fish_tests.cpp
+++ b/fish_tests.cpp
@@ -752,18 +752,13 @@ static void test_path()
 {
 	say( L"Testing path functions" );
 
-	void *context = halloc( 0, 0 );
-	
-
-	wchar_t *can = path_make_canonical( context, L"//foo//////bar/" );
-	
-	if( wcscmp( can, L"/foo/bar" ) )
+    wcstring path = L"//foo//////bar/";
+    wcstring canon = path;
+    path_make_canonical(canon);
+	if( canon != L"/foo/bar" ) )
 	{
 		err( L"Bug in canonical PATH code" );
-	}
-	
-	halloc_free( context );
-	
+	}	
 }
 
 
diff --git a/path.cpp b/path.cpp
index 407448e3b..a959f4106 100644
--- a/path.cpp
+++ b/path.cpp
@@ -514,38 +514,30 @@ bool path_get_config(wcstring &path)
 
 }
 
-wchar_t *path_make_canonical( void *context, const wchar_t *path )
+static void replace_all(wcstring &str, const wchar_t *needle, const wchar_t *replacement)
 {
-	wchar_t *res = halloc_wcsdup( context, path );
-	wchar_t *in, *out;
-	
-	in = out = res;
-	
-	while( *in )
-	{
-		if( *in == L'/' )
-		{
-			while( *(in+1) == L'/' )
-			{
-				in++;
-			}
-		}
-		*out = *in;
-	
-		out++;
-		in++;
-	}
-
-	while( 1 )
-	{
-		if( out == res )
-			break;
-		if( *(out-1) != L'/' )
-			break;
-		out--;
-	}
-	*out = 0;
-		
-	return res;
+    size_t needle_len = wcslen(needle);
+    size_t offset = 0;
+    while((offset = str.find(needle, offset)) != wcstring::npos)
+    {
+        str.replace(offset, needle_len, replacement);
+        offset += needle_len;
+    }
+}
+
+void path_make_canonical( wcstring &path )
+{
+
+    /* Remove double slashes */
+    replace_all(path, L"//", L"/");
+    
+    /* Remove trailing slashes */
+    size_t size = path.size();
+    while (size--) {
+        if (path.at(size) != L'/')
+            break;
+    }
+    /* Now size is either -1 (if the entire string was slashes) or is the index of the last non-slash character. Either way this will set it to the correct size. */
+    path.resize(size+1);
 }
 
diff --git a/path.h b/path.h
index aa6143c8d..8f63d14ea 100644
--- a/path.h
+++ b/path.h
@@ -57,13 +57,10 @@ bool path_can_get_cdpath(const wcstring &in);
 bool path_get_cdpath_string(const wcstring &in, wcstring &out, const env_vars &vars);
 
 /**
-   Remove doulbe slashes and trailing slashes from a path,
-   e.g. transform foo//bar/ into foo/bar.
-   
-   The returned string is allocated using the specified halloc
-   context.
+   Remove double slashes and trailing slashes from a path,
+   e.g. transform foo//bar/ into foo/bar. The string is modified in-place.
  */
-wchar_t *path_make_canonical( void *context, const wchar_t *path );
+void path_make_canonical( wcstring &path );
 
 
 #endif