diff --git a/builtin.cpp b/builtin.cpp
index c4b36ed67..30a69b739 100644
--- a/builtin.cpp
+++ b/builtin.cpp
@@ -2218,8 +2218,7 @@ static int builtin_read( parser_t &parser, wchar_t **argv )
 			while( !finished )
 			{
 				char b;
-				int read_res = read_blocked( builtin_stdin, &b, 1 );
-				if( read_res <= 0 )
+				if( read_blocked( builtin_stdin, &b, 1 ) <= 0 )
 				{
 					eof=1;
 					break;
diff --git a/builtin_commandline.cpp b/builtin_commandline.cpp
index ef5dbf924..3a0547d2f 100644
--- a/builtin_commandline.cpp
+++ b/builtin_commandline.cpp
@@ -61,8 +61,7 @@ static const wchar_t *current_buffer=0;
    What the commandline builtin considers to be the current cursor
    position.
  */
-static const size_t kInvalidCursorPosition = (size_t)(-1);
-static size_t current_cursor_pos = kInvalidCursorPosition;
+static size_t current_cursor_pos = (size_t)(-1);
 
 /**
    Returns the current commandline buffer.
diff --git a/builtin_jobs.cpp b/builtin_jobs.cpp
index a5653b5d6..1f01514cf 100644
--- a/builtin_jobs.cpp
+++ b/builtin_jobs.cpp
@@ -292,10 +292,10 @@ static int builtin_jobs( parser_t &parser, wchar_t **argv )
 
 			for( i=woptind; i<argc; i++ )
 			{
-				long pid;
+				int pid;
 				wchar_t *end;
 				errno=0;
-				pid=wcstol( argv[i], &end, 10 );
+				pid=fish_wcstoi( argv[i], &end, 10 );
 				if( errno || *end )
 				{
 					append_format(stderr_buffer,
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ static int builtin_jobs( parser_t &parser, wchar_t **argv )
 					return 1;
 				}
 
-				j = job_get_from_pid( (int)pid );
+				j = job_get_from_pid( pid );
 
 				if( j && !job_is_completed( j ) )
 				{
diff --git a/common.cpp b/common.cpp
index b9a37729c..5ca7df5fe 100644
--- a/common.cpp
+++ b/common.cpp
@@ -618,7 +618,7 @@ __sentinel bool contains_internal( const wcstring &needle, ... )
 	return res;
 }
 
-int read_blocked(int fd, void *buf, size_t count)
+long read_blocked(int fd, void *buf, size_t count)
 {
 	ssize_t res;
 	sigset_t chldset, oldset; 
@@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ int read_blocked(int fd, void *buf, size_t count)
 	VOMIT_ON_FAILURE(pthread_sigmask(SIG_BLOCK, &chldset, &oldset));
 	res = read( fd, buf, count );
 	VOMIT_ON_FAILURE(pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &oldset, NULL));
-	return (int)res;
+	return res;
 }
 
 ssize_t write_loop(int fd, const char *buff, size_t count)
diff --git a/common.h b/common.h
index 1d31ff8e1..cd6bd9a0a 100644
--- a/common.h
+++ b/common.h
@@ -583,7 +583,7 @@ __sentinel bool contains_internal( const wcstring &needle, ... );
    if you _know_ there is data available for reading, or the program
    will hang until there is data.
 */
-int read_blocked(int fd, void *buf, size_t count);
+long read_blocked(int fd, void *buf, size_t count);
 
 /**
    Loop a write request while failiure is non-critical. Return -1 and set errno
diff --git a/env.cpp b/env.cpp
index 572b44797..26658379a 100644
--- a/env.cpp
+++ b/env.cpp
@@ -1083,15 +1083,15 @@ env_var_t env_get_string( const wcstring &key )
 	}
 	else if( key == L"COLUMNS" )
 	{
-        return to_string((long)common_get_width());
+        return to_string(common_get_width());
 	}	
 	else if( key == L"LINES" )
 	{
-        return to_string((long)common_get_width());
+        return to_string(common_get_width());
 	}
 	else if( key == L"status" )
 	{
-        return to_string((long)proc_get_last_status());
+        return to_string(proc_get_last_status());
 	}
 	else if( key == L"umask" )
 	{
diff --git a/event.cpp b/event.cpp
index 4f58a390c..619200edf 100644
--- a/event.cpp
+++ b/event.cpp
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ static void event_fire_delayed()
 		/*
 		  Send all signals in our private list
 		*/
-		for( i=0; i<(size_t)lst->count; i++ )
+		for( int i=0; i < lst->count; i++ )
 		{
 			e.param1.signal = lst->signal[i];
             e.arguments->at(0) = sig2wcs( e.param1.signal );
diff --git a/exec.cpp b/exec.cpp
index f222e671b..e20c48263 100644
--- a/exec.cpp
+++ b/exec.cpp
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ static void exec_write_and_exit( int fd, const char *buff, size_t count, int sta
 
 void exec_close( int fd )
 {
+    ASSERT_IS_MAIN_THREAD();
+    
     /* This may be called in a child of fork(), so don't allocate memory */
 	if( fd < 0 )
 	{
@@ -113,7 +115,7 @@ void exec_close( int fd )
 	}
 	
     /* Maybe remove this from our set of open fds */
-    if (fd < (int)open_fds.size()) {
+    if (fd < open_fds.size()) {
         open_fds[fd] = false;
     }
 }
@@ -134,7 +136,7 @@ int exec_pipe( int fd[2])
 	debug( 4, L"Created pipe using fds %d and %d", fd[0], fd[1]);
 	
     int max_fd = std::max(fd[0], fd[1]);
-    if ((int)open_fds.size() <= max_fd) {
+    if (open_fds.size() <= max_fd) {
         open_fds.resize(max_fd + 1, false);
     }
     open_fds.at(fd[0]) = true;
diff --git a/fish_pager.cpp b/fish_pager.cpp
index 7c67d3481..3c9392b19 100644
--- a/fish_pager.cpp
+++ b/fish_pager.cpp
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ static void completion_print( int cols,
 
 			int is_last = (j==(cols-1));
 			
-			if( (int)lst.size() <= j*rows + i )
+			if( lst.size() <= j*rows + i )
 				continue;
 
 			el = lst.at(j*rows + i );
@@ -872,11 +872,9 @@ static void mangle_descriptions( wcstring_list_t &lst )
 */
 static void join_completions( wcstring_list_t lst )
 {
-	long i;
-    
     std::map<wcstring, long> desc_table;
 
-	for( i=0; i<(long)lst.size(); i++ )
+	for( size_t i=0; i<lst.size(); i++ )
 	{
 		const wchar_t *item = lst.at(i).c_str();
 		const wchar_t *desc = wcschr( item, COMPLETE_SEP );
diff --git a/fishd.cpp b/fishd.cpp
index e0a2859d1..1cd7be6f4 100644
--- a/fishd.cpp
+++ b/fishd.cpp
@@ -197,41 +197,6 @@ static void handle_term( int signal )
 }
 
 
-/**
- Writes a pid_t in decimal representation to str.
- str must contain sufficient space.
- The conservatively approximate maximum number of characters a pid_t will 
- represent is given by: (int)(0.31 * sizeof(pid_t) + CHAR_BIT + 1)
- Returns the length of the string
- */
-static int sprint_pid_t( pid_t pid, char *str )
-{
-	int len, i = 0;
-	int dig;
-    
-	/* Store digits in reverse order into string */
-	while( pid != 0 )
-	{
-		dig = pid % 10;
-		str[i] = '0' + dig;
-		pid = ( pid - dig ) / 10;
-		i++;
-	}
-	len = i;
-	/* Reverse digits */
-	i /= 2;
-	while( i )
-	{
-		i--;
-		dig = str[i];
-		str[i] = str[len -  1 - i];
-		str[len - 1 - i] = dig;
-	}
-	return len;
-}
-
-
-
 /**
  Writes a pseudo-random number (between one and maxlen) of pseudo-random
  digits into str.
@@ -247,7 +212,7 @@ static int sprint_pid_t( pid_t pid, char *str )
  Excludes chars other than digits since ANSI C only guarantees that digits
  are consecutive.
  */
-static int sprint_rand_digits( char *str, int maxlen )
+static void sprint_rand_digits( char *str, int maxlen )
 {
 	int i, max;
 	struct timeval tv;
@@ -265,7 +230,7 @@ static int sprint_rand_digits( char *str, int maxlen )
 	{
 		str[i] = '0' + 10 * (rand() / (RAND_MAX + 1.0));
 	}
-	return i;
+	str[i] = 0;
 }
 
 
@@ -278,45 +243,22 @@ static int sprint_rand_digits( char *str, int maxlen )
  fallback.
  The memory returned should be freed using free().
  */
-static char *gen_unique_nfs_filename( const char *filename )
+static std::string gen_unique_nfs_filename( const char *filename )
 {
-	size_t pidlen, hnlen, orglen = strlen( filename );
-	char hostname[HOST_NAME_MAX + 1];
-	char *newname;
+	char hostname[HOST_NAME_MAX + 1];    
+    char pid_str[256];
+    snprintf(pid_str, sizeof pid_str, "%ld", (long)getpid());
 	
-	if ( gethostname( hostname, HOST_NAME_MAX + 1 ) == 0 )
-	{
-		hnlen = strlen( hostname );
+	if ( gethostname( hostname, sizeof hostname ) != 0 )
+    {
+		sprint_rand_digits( hostname, HOST_NAME_MAX );
 	}
-	else
-	{
-		hnlen = sprint_rand_digits( hostname, HOST_NAME_MAX );
-		hostname[hnlen] = '\0';
-	}
-	newname = (char *)malloc( orglen + 1 /* period */ + hnlen + 1 /* period */ +
-                             /* max possible pid size: 0.31 ~= log(10)2 */
-                             (int)(0.31 * sizeof(pid_t) * CHAR_BIT + 1)
-                             + 1 /* '\0' */ );
-	
-	if ( newname == NULL )
-	{
-		debug( 1, L"gen_unique_nfs_filename: %s", strerror( errno ) );
-		return newname;
-	}
-	memcpy( newname, filename, orglen );
-	newname[orglen] = '.';
-	memcpy( newname + orglen + 1, hostname, hnlen );
-	newname[orglen + 1 + hnlen] = '.';
-	pidlen = sprint_pid_t( getpid(), newname + orglen + 1 + hnlen + 1 );
-	newname[orglen + 1 + hnlen + 1 + pidlen] = '\0';
-    /*	debug( 1, L"gen_unique_nfs_filename returning with: newname = \"%s\"; "
-     L"HOST_NAME_MAX = %d; hnlen = %d; orglen = %d; "
-     L"sizeof(pid_t) = %d; maxpiddigits = %d; malloc'd size: %d", 
-     newname, (int)HOST_NAME_MAX, hnlen, orglen, 
-     (int)sizeof(pid_t), 
-     (int)(0.31 * sizeof(pid_t) * CHAR_BIT + 1),
-     (int)(orglen + 1 + hnlen + 1 + 
-     (int)(0.31 * sizeof(pid_t) * CHAR_BIT + 1) + 1) ); */
+    
+    std::string newname(filename);
+	newname.push_back('.');
+    newname.append(hostname);
+    newname.push_back('.');
+    newname.append(pid_str);    
 	return newname;
 }
 
@@ -348,11 +290,8 @@ static int acquire_lock_file( const char *lockfile, const int timeout, int force
 	/*
      (Re)create a unique file and check that it has one only link.
      */
-	char *linkfile = gen_unique_nfs_filename( lockfile );
-	if( linkfile == NULL )
-	{
-		goto done;
-	}
+	const std::string linkfile_str = gen_unique_nfs_filename( lockfile );
+    const char * const linkfile = linkfile_str.c_str();
 	(void)unlink( linkfile );
     /* OK to not use CLO_EXEC here because fishd is single threaded */
 	if( ( fd = open( linkfile, O_CREAT|O_RDONLY, 0600 ) ) == -1 )
@@ -439,7 +378,6 @@ static int acquire_lock_file( const char *lockfile, const int timeout, int force
 done:
 	/* The linkfile is not needed once the lockfile has been created */
 	(void)unlink( linkfile );
-	free( linkfile );
 	return ret;
 }
 
diff --git a/highlight.cpp b/highlight.cpp
index b594434cb..d8b7e7ea4 100644
--- a/highlight.cpp
+++ b/highlight.cpp
@@ -1313,7 +1313,7 @@ void highlight_shell( const wcstring &buff, std::vector<int> &color, size_t pos,
         
         // highlight the end of the subcommand
         assert(end >= subbuff);
-        if ((size_t)(end - subbuff) < length) {
+        if ((end - subbuff) < length) {
             color.at(end-subbuff)=HIGHLIGHT_OPERATOR;
         }
 		
@@ -1418,7 +1418,7 @@ static void highlight_universal_internal( const wcstring &buffstr, std::vector<i
 						if( level == 0 )
 						{
 							level++;
-                            lst.push_back((long)(str-buff));
+                            lst.push_back(str-buff);
 							prev_q = *str;
 						}
 						else
@@ -1442,7 +1442,7 @@ static void highlight_universal_internal( const wcstring &buffstr, std::vector<i
 							else
 							{
 								level++;
-                                lst.push_back((long)(str-buff));
+                                lst.push_back(str-buff);
 								prev_q = *str;
 							}
 						}
diff --git a/io.cpp b/io.cpp
index d238e1439..10648c5bc 100644
--- a/io.cpp
+++ b/io.cpp
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ void io_buffer_read( io_data_t *d )
 		while(1)
 		{
 			char b[4096];
-			int l;
+			long l;
 			l=read_blocked( d->param1.pipe_fd[0], b, 4096 );
 			if( l==0 )
 			{
diff --git a/mimedb.cpp b/mimedb.cpp
index 9723f18cd..919e2033c 100644
--- a/mimedb.cpp
+++ b/mimedb.cpp
@@ -1033,13 +1033,13 @@ static void write_file( const char *file, int print_path )
    \param files the list of files for which to perform the action
    \param fileno an internal value. Should always be set to zero.
 */
-static void launch( char *filter, const string_list_t &files, int fileno )
+static void launch( char *filter, const string_list_t &files, size_t fileno )
 {
 	char *filter_org=filter;
 	int count=0;
 	int launch_again=0;
 	
-	if( (int)files.size() <= fileno )
+	if( files.size() <= fileno )
 		return;
 	
 	
diff --git a/output.cpp b/output.cpp
index b557d19ae..b061693e4 100644
--- a/output.cpp
+++ b/output.cpp
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ static bool write_color(char *todo, unsigned char idx, bool is_fg) {
     } else {
         /* We are attempting to bypass the term here. Generate the ANSI escape sequence ourself. */
         char stridx[128];
-        format_long_safe(stridx, (long)idx);
+        format_long_safe(stridx, idx);
         char buff[128] = "\x1b[";
         strcat(buff, is_fg ? "38;5;" : "48;5;");
         strcat(buff, stridx);
diff --git a/parse_util.cpp b/parse_util.cpp
index e1599b333..b8cf04a00 100644
--- a/parse_util.cpp
+++ b/parse_util.cpp
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ size_t parse_util_get_offset( const wcstring &str, int line, long line_offset )
 	
 	if( off2 == (size_t)(-1) )
 	{
-		off2 = (int)(wcslen( buff )+1);
+		off2 = wcslen( buff )+1;
 	}
 	
 	if( line_offset2 < 0 )
diff --git a/proc.cpp b/proc.cpp
index fc98365d8..7de06af53 100644
--- a/proc.cpp
+++ b/proc.cpp
@@ -377,8 +377,8 @@ static void mark_process_status( const job_t *j,
 		char mess[MESS_SIZE];
 		snprintf( mess,
 				  MESS_SIZE,
-				  "Process %d exited abnormally\n",
-				  (int) p->pid );
+				  "Process %ld exited abnormally\n",
+				  (long) p->pid );
 		/*
 		  If write fails, do nothing. We're in a signal handlers error
 		  handler. If things aren't working properly, it's safer to
@@ -866,7 +866,7 @@ static void read_try( job_t *j )
 		while(1)
 		{
 			char b[BUFFER_SIZE];
-			int l;
+			long l;
 			
 			l=read_blocked( buff->param1.pipe_fd[0],
 					b, BUFFER_SIZE );
diff --git a/reader.cpp b/reader.cpp
index 95c26c68a..8aabd5893 100644
--- a/reader.cpp
+++ b/reader.cpp
@@ -444,7 +444,9 @@ static void reader_repaint()
 	parser_t::principal_parser().test( data->command_line.c_str(), &data->indents[0], 0, 0 );
 	    
     wcstring full_line = (data->autosuggestion.empty() ? data->command_line : data->autosuggestion);
-    size_t len = std::max((size_t)1, full_line.size());
+    size_t len = full_line.size();
+    if (len < 1)
+        len = 1;
     
     std::vector<color_t> colors = data->colors;
     colors.resize(len, HIGHLIGHT_AUTOSUGGESTION);
diff --git a/sanity.cpp b/sanity.cpp
index de2cd5db9..37e7e7e9f 100644
--- a/sanity.cpp
+++ b/sanity.cpp
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ void validate_pointer( const void *ptr, const wchar_t *err, int null_ok )
 	   Test if the pointer data crosses a segment boundary. 
 	*/
 	
-	if( (0x00000003l & (long)ptr) != 0 )
+	if( (0x00000003l & (intptr_t)ptr) != 0 )
 	{
 		debug( 0, _(L"The pointer '%ls' is invalid"), err );
 		sanity_lose();		
diff --git a/signal.cpp b/signal.cpp
index 708dd38a5..3b6bc2dbd 100644
--- a/signal.cpp
+++ b/signal.cpp
@@ -384,10 +384,10 @@ int wcs2sig( const wchar_t *str )
 		}
 	}
 	errno=0;
-	long res = wcstol( str, &end, 10 );
-	if( !errno && res>=0 && res <= INT_MAX && !*end )
-		return (int)res;
-	
+	int res = fish_wcstoi( str, &end, 10 );
+	if( !errno && res>=0 && !*end )
+		return res;
+
 	return -1;	
 }