The new string stuff is building and running (passes all the pre-checkin tests) on Win32, Mac, and Linux. I don't see any errors on the Solaris build, but I'll have to wait for confirmation. I'm tempted to turn it on right this instant, but I'm gonna wait anyway. You can never be sure :-)
Chris Waterson has been a huge help getting this stuff working with every compiler. No question: gcc-2.7.2.3 sucks ass. Thank heavens for autoconf. The challenge comes in writing an autoconf test that tests for exactly the bad behavior a given compiler has.
Soon!