diff --git a/Headers/GNUstepBase/NSObject+GNUstepBase.h b/Headers/GNUstepBase/NSObject+GNUstepBase.h
index 7c70ff988..cc4ccda05 100644
--- a/Headers/GNUstepBase/NSObject+GNUstepBase.h
+++ b/Headers/GNUstepBase/NSObject+GNUstepBase.h
@@ -212,46 +212,49 @@ extern "C" {
 + (void) atExit;
 @end
 
-/** Category for methods handling leaked memory cleanup on exit of process
+/** Category for methods handling leaked memory clean-up on exit of process
  * (for use when debugging memory leaks).<br />
  * You enable this by calling the +setShouldCleanUp: method (done implicitly
  * by gnustep-base if the GNUSTEP_SHOULD_CLEAN_UP environment variable is
  * set to YES).<br />
- * Your class then has two options for performing cleanup when the process
+ * Your class then has two options for performing clean-up when the process
  * ends:
- * <p>1. Use the +leak: method to register objects which are simply to be 
+ * <p>1. Use the +leaked: method to register objects which are simply to be 
  * retained until the process ends, and then either ignored or released
- * depending on the cleanup setting in force.  This mechanism is simple
+ * depending on the clean-up setting in force.  This mechanism is simple
  * and should be sufficient for many classes.
  * </p>
  * <p>2. Implement a +atExit method to be run when the process ends and,
  * within your +initialize implementation, call +shouldCleanUp to determine
- * whether cleanup should be done, and if it returns YES then call
+ * whether clean-up should be done, and if it returns YES then call
  * +registerAtExit to have your +atExit method called when the process
  * terminates.
  * </p>
  * <p>The order in which 'leaked' objects are released and +atExit methods
  * are called on process exist is the reverse of the order in which they
- * werse set up suing this API.
+ * werse set up using this API.
  * </p>
  */
-@interface NSObject(GSCleanup)
+@interface NSObject(GSCleanUp)
 
-
-/** This method simply retains its argument so that it will never be
- * deallocated during normal operation, but keeps track of it so that
- * it is released during process exit if cleanup is enabled.<br />
- * Returns its argument.
+/** Returns YES if the process is exiting (and perhaps performing clean-up).
  */
-+ (id) NS_RETURNS_RETAINED leak: (id)anObject;
++ (BOOL) isExiting;
 
-/** This method retains the object at *anAddress so that it will never be
- * deallocated during normal operation, but keeps track of the address
- * so that the object is released and the address is zeroed during process
- * exit if cleanup is enabled.<br />
- * Returns the object at *anAddress.
+/** This method informs the system that the object at anAddress has been
+ * intentionally leaked (will not be deallocated by higher level code)
+ * and should be cleaned up at process exit (and the address content
+ * zeroed out) if clean-up is enabled.
  */
-+ (id) NS_RETURNS_RETAINED leakAt: (id*)anAddress;
++ (void) leaked: (id*)anAddress;
+
+/** Deprecated: use +leaked: instead.
+ */
++ (id) NS_RETURNS_RETAINED leak: (id)anObject ;//GS_DEPRECATED_FUNC;
+
+/** Deprecated: use +leaked: instead.
+ */
++ (id) NS_RETURNS_RETAINED leakAt: (id*)anAddress ;//GS_DEPRECATED_FUNC;
 
 /** Sets the receiver to have its +atExit method called at the point when
  * the process terminates.<br />
@@ -269,10 +272,10 @@ extern "C" {
  */
 + (BOOL) registerAtExit: (SEL)aSelector;
 
-/** Specifies the default cleanup behavior on process exit ... the value
+/** Specifies the default clean-up behavior on process exit ... the value
  * returned by the NSObject implementation of the +shouldCleanUp method.<br />
  * Calling this method with a YES argument implicitly enables the support for
- * cleanup at exit.<br />
+ * clean-up at exit.<br />
  * The GNUstep Base library calls this method with the value obtained from
  * the GNUSTEP_SHOULD_CLEAN_UP environment variable when NSObject is
  * initialised.
diff --git a/Source/Additions/NSObject+GNUstepBase.m b/Source/Additions/NSObject+GNUstepBase.m
index 4818693d9..6b14eed96 100644
--- a/Source/Additions/NSObject+GNUstepBase.m
+++ b/Source/Additions/NSObject+GNUstepBase.m
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ struct exitLink {
 static struct exitLink	*exited = 0;
 static BOOL		enabled = NO;
 static BOOL		shouldCleanUp = NO;
+static BOOL		isExiting = NO;
 static NSLock           *exitLock = nil;
 
 static inline void setup()
@@ -176,7 +177,10 @@ static inline void setup()
 static void
 handleExit()
 {
-  BOOL  unknownThread = GSRegisterCurrentThread();
+  BOOL  unknownThread;
+
+  isExiting = YES;
+  unknownThread = GSRegisterCurrentThread();
   CREATE_AUTORELEASE_POOL(arp);
 
   while (exited != 0)
@@ -212,9 +216,32 @@ handleExit()
     {
       GSUnregisterCurrentThread();
     }
+  isExiting = NO;
 }
 
-@implementation NSObject(GSCleanup)
+@implementation NSObject(GSCleanUp)
+
++ (BOOL) isExiting
+{
+  return isExiting;
+}
+
++ (void) leaked: (id*)anAddress
+{
+  struct exitLink	*l;
+
+  NSAssert(*anAddress && [*anAddress isKindOfClass: [NSObject class]],
+    NSInvalidArgumentException);
+  l = (struct exitLink*)malloc(sizeof(struct exitLink));
+  l->at = anAddress;
+  l->obj = *anAddress;
+  l->sel = 0;
+  setup();
+  [exitLock lock];
+  l->next = exited;
+  exited = l;
+  [exitLock unlock];
+}
 
 + (id) leakAt: (id*)anAddress
 {
diff --git a/Source/NSArray.m b/Source/NSArray.m
index ea966e873..828c739b5 100644
--- a/Source/NSArray.m
+++ b/Source/NSArray.m
@@ -105,7 +105,15 @@ static SEL	rlSel;
 
 + (void) atExit
 {
-  DESTROY(defaultPlaceholderArray);
+  id	o;
+
+  /* The default placeholder array overrides -dealloc so we must get rid of
+   * it directly.
+   */
+  o = defaultPlaceholderArray;
+  defaultPlaceholderArray = nil;
+  NSDeallocateObject(o);
+
   DESTROY(placeholderMap);
 }
 
diff --git a/Source/NSString.m b/Source/NSString.m
index d73985ee3..91077a9dd 100644
--- a/Source/NSString.m
+++ b/Source/NSString.m
@@ -166,9 +166,13 @@ static NSMapTable		*placeholderMap;
 static gs_mutex_t		placeholderLock = GS_MUTEX_INIT_STATIC;
 
 
-static SEL	                cMemberSel = 0;
-static NSCharacterSet	        *nonBase = nil;
-static BOOL                     (*nonBaseImp)(id, SEL, unichar) = 0;
+static SEL		cMemberSel = 0;
+static NSCharacterSet	*nonBase = nil;
+static BOOL             (*nonBaseImp)(id, SEL, unichar) = 0;
+
+static NSCharacterSet	*wPathSeps = nil;
+static NSCharacterSet	*uPathSeps = nil;
+static NSCharacterSet	*rPathSeps = nil;
 
 /* Macro to return the receiver if it is already immutable, but an
  * autoreleased copy otherwise.  Used where we have to return an
@@ -308,9 +312,6 @@ GSPathHandling(const char *mode)
 static NSCharacterSet*
 pathSeps(void)
 {
-  static NSCharacterSet	*wPathSeps = nil;
-  static NSCharacterSet	*uPathSeps = nil;
-  static NSCharacterSet	*rPathSeps = nil;
   if (GSPathHandlingRight())
     {
       if (rPathSeps == nil)
@@ -318,9 +319,8 @@ pathSeps(void)
 	  GS_MUTEX_LOCK(placeholderLock);
 	  if (rPathSeps == nil)
 	    {
-	      rPathSeps
-		= [NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString: @"/\\"];
-              rPathSeps = [NSObject leakAt: &rPathSeps];
+	      rPathSeps = RETAIN([NSCharacterSet
+		characterSetWithCharactersInString: @"/\\"]);
 	    }
 	  GS_MUTEX_UNLOCK(placeholderLock);
 	}
@@ -333,9 +333,8 @@ pathSeps(void)
 	  GS_MUTEX_LOCK(placeholderLock);
 	  if (uPathSeps == nil)
 	    {
-	      uPathSeps
-		= [NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString: @"/"];
-              uPathSeps = [NSObject leakAt: &uPathSeps];
+	      uPathSeps = RETAIN([NSCharacterSet
+		characterSetWithCharactersInString: @"/"]);
 	    }
 	  GS_MUTEX_UNLOCK(placeholderLock);
 	}
@@ -348,9 +347,8 @@ pathSeps(void)
 	  GS_MUTEX_LOCK(placeholderLock);
 	  if (wPathSeps == nil)
 	    {
-	      wPathSeps
-		= [NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString: @"\\"];
-              wPathSeps = [NSObject leakAt: &wPathSeps];
+	      wPathSeps = RETAIN([NSCharacterSet
+		characterSetWithCharactersInString: @"\\"]);
 	    }
 	  GS_MUTEX_UNLOCK(placeholderLock);
 	}
@@ -881,6 +879,10 @@ register_printf_atsign ()
 + (void) atExit
 {
   DESTROY(placeholderMap);
+  DESTROY(nonBase);
+  DESTROY(rPathSeps);
+  DESTROY(uPathSeps);
+  DESTROY(wPathSeps);
 }
 
 + (void) initialize
@@ -900,7 +902,6 @@ register_printf_atsign ()
       ranSel = @selector(rangeOfComposedCharacterSequenceAtIndex:);
 
       nonBase = [NSCharacterSet nonBaseCharacterSet];
-      nonBase = [NSObject leakAt: &nonBase];
       nonBaseImp
         = (BOOL(*)(id,SEL,unichar))[nonBase methodForSelector: cMemberSel];
 
@@ -3951,9 +3952,13 @@ register_printf_atsign ()
     }
   else
     {
+      BOOL	result;
+
+      ENTER_POOL
       NSData	*d = [self dataUsingEncoding: encoding];
       unsigned	length = [d length];
-      BOOL	result = (length < maxLength) ? YES : NO;
+
+      result = (length < maxLength) ? YES : NO;
 
       if (d == nil)
         {
@@ -3966,6 +3971,7 @@ register_printf_atsign ()
 	}
       memcpy(buffer, [d bytes], length);
       buffer[length] = '\0';
+      LEAVE_POOL
       return result;
     }
 }
@@ -4279,7 +4285,7 @@ register_printf_atsign ()
       if (GSFromUnicode(&b, &l, u, len, encoding, NSDefaultMallocZone(),
 	options) == YES)
 	{
-	  d = [NSDataClass dataWithBytesNoCopy: b length: l];
+	  d = [NSDataClass dataWithBytesNoCopy: b length: l freeWhenDone: YES];
 	}
       else
         {