diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index a6698b685..80e059e20 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 	Chris B Vetter.
 	* Source/NSString.m: Fix memory allocation of a unichar buffer to
 	correct size.
+	* Source/NSPipe.m: Log an error if we can't open a new pipe.
+	* Source/NSTask.m: Slight tidyup
 
 2001-05-04  Nicola Pero  <n.pero@mi.flashnet.it>
 
diff --git a/Source/NSPipe.m b/Source/NSPipe.m
index 9c16e470f..b7f0505d8 100644
--- a/Source/NSPipe.m
+++ b/Source/NSPipe.m
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #include <base/preface.h>
 #include <Foundation/NSObject.h>
 #include <Foundation/NSFileHandle.h>
+#include <Foundation/NSDebug.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
 @implementation NSPipe
@@ -53,9 +54,14 @@
 
       if (pipe(p) == 0)
         {
-          readHandle = [[NSFileHandle alloc] initWithFileDescriptor:p[0]];
-          writeHandle = [[NSFileHandle alloc] initWithFileDescriptor:p[1]];
+          readHandle = [[NSFileHandle alloc] initWithFileDescriptor: p[0]];
+          writeHandle = [[NSFileHandle alloc] initWithFileDescriptor: p[1]];
         }
+      else
+	{
+	  NSLog(@"Failed to create pipe ... %s", strerror(errno));
+	  DESTROY(self);
+	}
 #else
       HANDLE readh, writeh;
 
diff --git a/Source/NSTask.m b/Source/NSTask.m
index ddf501909..c584b332e 100644
--- a/Source/NSTask.m
+++ b/Source/NSTask.m
@@ -854,7 +854,7 @@ GSCheckTasks()
 
   for (i = 0; i < ac; i++)
     {
-      args[i+1] = [[[a objectAtIndex: i] description] cString];
+      args[i+1] = [[[a objectAtIndex: i] description] lossyCString];
     }
   args[ac+1] = 0;
 
@@ -872,7 +872,7 @@ GSCheckTasks()
 	{
 	  s = [NSString stringWithFormat: @"%@=", key];
 	}
-      envl[i] = [s cString];
+      envl[i] = [s lossyCString];
     }
   envl[ec] = 0;