diff --git a/ice-9/ChangeLog b/ice-9/ChangeLog
index 2a2e32fd8..8be502793 100644
--- a/ice-9/ChangeLog
+++ b/ice-9/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+1998-07-14  Mikael Djurfeldt  <mdj@mdj.nada.kth.se>
+
+	* boot-9.scm: Let the user start in module `(user)' instead of
+	module `(guile)'.  Also make sure that `(user)' uses suitable
+	modules.  This change improves Guile stability substantially since
+	bindings will only be copied from the root module: If the user
+	redefines builtins in `(user)' it won't affect the internal
+	operation of Guile itself.
+
 1998-06-19  Mikael Djurfeldt  <mdj@barbara.nada.kth.se>
 
 	* boot-9.scm (load-module): When loading files from within files
diff --git a/ice-9/boot-9.scm b/ice-9/boot-9.scm
index 158a4c582..5ea08f75a 100644
--- a/ice-9/boot-9.scm
+++ b/ice-9/boot-9.scm
@@ -2907,40 +2907,42 @@
   `(catch #t (lambda () ,expr)
 	  (lambda args #f)))
 
-;;; {Load debug extension code if debug extensions present.}
-;;;
-;;; *fixme* This is a temporary solution.
-;;;
-
-(if (memq 'debug-extensions *features*)
-    (define-module (guile) :use-module (ice-9 debug)))
-
-
-;;; {Load session support if present.}
-;;;
-;;; *fixme* This is a temporary solution.
-;;;
-
-(if (%search-load-path "ice-9/session.scm")
-    (define-module (guile) :use-module (ice-9 session)))
-
-;;; Load readline code if readline primitives are available.
+;;; Load readline code into root module if readline primitives are available.
 ;;;
 ;;; Ideally, we wouldn't do this until we were sure we were actually
 ;;; going to enter the repl, but autoloading individual functions is
 ;;; clumsy at the moment.
 (if (and (memq 'readline *features*)
 	 (isatty? (current-input-port)))
-    (define-module (guile) :use-module (ice-9 readline)))
+    (begin
+      (define-module (guile) :use-module (ice-9 readline))
+      (define-module (user) :use-module (ice-9 readline))))
 
 
-;;; {Load thread code if threads are present.}
+;;; {Load debug extension code into user module if debug extensions present.}
+;;;
+;;; *fixme* This is a temporary solution.
+;;;
+
+(if (memq 'debug-extensions *features*)
+    (define-module (user) :use-module (ice-9 debug)))
+
+
+;;; {Load session support into user module if present.}
+;;;
+;;; *fixme* This is a temporary solution.
+;;;
+
+(if (%search-load-path "ice-9/session.scm")
+    (define-module (user) :use-module (ice-9 session)))
+
+;;; {Load thread code into user module if threads are present.}
 ;;;
 ;;; *fixme* This is a temporary solution.
 ;;;
 
 (if (memq 'threads *features*)
-    (define-module (guile) :use-module (ice-9 threads)))
+    (define-module (user) :use-module (ice-9 threads)))
 
 
 ;;; {Load emacs interface support if emacs option is given.}
@@ -2953,15 +2955,17 @@
     (begin
       (if (memq 'debug-extensions *features*)
 	  (debug-enable 'backtrace))
-      (define-module (guile) :use-module (ice-9 emacs))))
+      (define-module (user) :use-module (ice-9 emacs))))
 
 
 ;;; {Load regexp code if regexp primitives are available.}
 
 (if (memq 'regex *features*)
-    (define-module (guile) :use-module (ice-9 regex)))
+    (define-module (user) :use-module (ice-9 regex)))
 
 
+(define-module (guile))
+
 ;;; {Check that the interpreter and scheme code match up.}
 
 (let ((show-line
@@ -2984,8 +2988,8 @@
 	(show-line "libguile: configured on " (libguile-config-stamp))
 	(show-line "ice-9:    configured on " (ice-9-config-stamp)))))
     
+(append! %load-path (cons "." ()))
+
 
 
-(define-module (guile))
-
-(append! %load-path (cons "." ()))
+(define-module (user))