diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 34a20f9d2..9844fcf96 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2004-04-06 Richard Frith-Macdonald <rfm@gnu.org>
+
+	* Source/NSUserDefaults.m: Modified to operate on a read-only
+	filesystem where the defaults database is missing.  Application
+	defaults and command line settings should still work.
+
 2004-04-02 Richard Frith-Macdonald <rfm@gnu.org>
 
 	* Tools/AGSParser.m: Fix error parsing sequence of protocol names
diff --git a/Source/Additions/GSXML.m b/Source/Additions/GSXML.m
index 37166d009..5f9362447 100644
--- a/Source/Additions/GSXML.m
+++ b/Source/Additions/GSXML.m
@@ -3829,7 +3829,7 @@ static BOOL warned = NO; if (warned == NO) { warned = YES; NSLog(@"WARNING, use
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBXSLT
 /**
  * Performs an XSLT transformation on the specified file using the
- * sytelsheet provided.<br />
+ * stylesheet provided.<br />
  *
  * Returns an autoreleased GSXMLDocument containing the transformed
  * XML, or nil on failure.
@@ -3844,7 +3844,7 @@ static BOOL warned = NO; if (warned == NO) { warned = YES; NSLog(@"WARNING, use
 
 /**
  * Performs an XSLT transformation on the specified file using the
- * sytelsheet and parameters provided. See the libxslt documentation
+ * stylesheet and parameters provided. See the libxslt documentation
  * for details of the supported parameters.<br />
  *
  * Returns an autoreleased GSXMLDocument containing the transformed
@@ -3884,7 +3884,7 @@ static BOOL warned = NO; if (warned == NO) { warned = YES; NSLog(@"WARNING, use
 }
 /**
  * Performs an XSLT transformation on the specified file using the
- * sytelsheet provided.<br />
+ * stylesheet provided.<br />
  *
  * Returns an autoreleased GSXMLDocument containing the transformed
  * XML, or nil on failure.
@@ -3899,7 +3899,7 @@ static BOOL warned = NO; if (warned == NO) { warned = YES; NSLog(@"WARNING, use
 			  
 /**
  * Performs an XSLT transformation on the specified file using the
- * sytelsheet and parameters provided.See the libxslt documentation
+ * stylesheet and parameters provided.See the libxslt documentation
  * for details of the supported parameters.<br />
  *
  * Returns an autoreleased GSXMLDocument containing the transformed
diff --git a/Source/NSUserDefaults.m b/Source/NSUserDefaults.m
index 407599f07..e5bf7e913 100644
--- a/Source/NSUserDefaults.m
+++ b/Source/NSUserDefaults.m
@@ -737,6 +737,8 @@ static NSString	*pathForUser(NSString *user)
   return [self initWithContentsOfFile: path];
 }
 
+BOOL read_only = NO;
+
 /**
  * <init />
  * Initializes defaults for the specified path. Returns an object with
@@ -768,6 +770,7 @@ static NSString	*pathForUser(NSString *user)
     {
       NSWarnMLog(@"Path '%@' is not writable - making user defaults for '%@' "
 	@" read-only\n", path, _defaultsDatabase);
+
     }
   else if ([mgr fileExistsAtPath: path isDirectory: &flag] == NO && flag == NO)
     {
@@ -1441,14 +1444,31 @@ static BOOL isPlistObject(id o)
         initWithContentsOfFile: _defaultsDatabase];
       if (newDict == nil)
 	{
-	  NSLog(@"Unable to load defaults from '%@'", _defaultsDatabase);
-	  if (wasLocked == NO)
+	  if (_fileLock == nil)
 	    {
-	      [_fileLock unlock];
-	      isLocked = NO;
+	      /*
+	       * Running with no readable user defaults ... but we were
+	       * initialised that way (possibly on a read-only filesystem)
+	       * so we just continue as best we can.
+	       */
+	      newDict = [[NSMutableDictionaryClass allocWithZone: [self zone]]
+		initWithCapacity: 4];
+	    }
+	  else
+	    {
+	      /*
+	       * The defaults system has become unreadable singe we started...
+	       * probably a severe error of some sort
+	       */
+	      NSLog(@"Unable to load defaults from '%@'", _defaultsDatabase);
+	      if (wasLocked == NO)
+		{
+		  [_fileLock unlock];
+		  isLocked = NO;
+		}
+	      [_lock unlock];
+	      return NO;
 	    }
-	  [_lock unlock];
-	  return NO;
 	}
     }