diff --git a/gdbinit b/gdbinit
index ad7881f2a..cd3add5fb 100644
--- a/gdbinit
+++ b/gdbinit
@@ -1,7 +1,13 @@
+# -*- GDB-Script -*-
+
 define newline
   call (void)scm_newline (scm_current_error_port ())
 end
 
+define pp
+  call (void)scm_call_1 (scm_variable_ref (scm_c_module_lookup (scm_c_resolve_module ("ice-9 pretty-print"), "pretty-print")), $arg0)
+end
+
 define gdisplay
   call (void)scm_display ($arg0, scm_current_error_port ())
   newline
@@ -194,3 +200,7 @@ define vmstack
     nextframe
   end
 end
+
+define inst
+  p scm_instruction_table[$arg0]
+end
diff --git a/ice-9/Makefile.am b/ice-9/Makefile.am
index 43e5284b3..eae3ecde8 100644
--- a/ice-9/Makefile.am
+++ b/ice-9/Makefile.am
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ SOURCES = psyntax-pp.scm boot-9.scm \
 	and-let-star.scm calling.scm common-list.scm			\
 	debug.scm debugger.scm documentation.scm emacs.scm expect.scm	\
 	format.scm getopt-long.scm hcons.scm i18n.scm			\
-	lineio.scm ls.scm mapping.scm					\
+	lineio.scm ls.scm mapping.scm match.scm				\
 	networking.scm null.scm optargs.scm poe.scm		\
 	popen.scm posix.scm q.scm r4rs.scm r5rs.scm			\
 	rdelim.scm receive.scm regex.scm runq.scm rw.scm		\
@@ -45,17 +45,13 @@ SOURCES = psyntax-pp.scm boot-9.scm \
 	weak-vector.scm deprecated.scm list.scm serialize.scm		\
 	gds-server.scm
 
-# match.scm compiles, but then using it (via
-# snarf-check-and-output-texi) fails. need to figure out what the
-# problem is.
-#
 # occam-channel and gds-client use goops, which is not yet vm-compatible
 # (it does some compilation-like optimizations for the interpreter), so
 # punt on them for the time being.
 #
 # psyntax.scm needs help. fortunately it's only needed when recompiling
 # psyntax-pp.scm.
-NOCOMP_SOURCES = match.scm occam-channel.scm gds-client.scm psyntax.scm
+NOCOMP_SOURCES = occam-channel.scm gds-client.scm psyntax.scm
 
 include $(top_srcdir)/guilec.mk
 
diff --git a/libguile/vm-engine.c b/libguile/vm-engine.c
index 3956a389d..84af98c07 100644
--- a/libguile/vm-engine.c
+++ b/libguile/vm-engine.c
@@ -180,6 +180,12 @@ vm_run (SCM vm, SCM program, SCM args)
     err_msg  = scm_from_locale_string ("VM: Attempt to unroll an improper list: tail is ~A");
     goto vm_error;
 
+  vm_error_not_a_pair:
+    SYNC_ALL ();
+    scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (FUNC_NAME, 1, err_args, "pair");
+    /* shouldn't get here */
+    goto vm_error;
+
   vm_error_no_values:
     err_msg  = scm_from_locale_string ("VM: 0-valued return");
     err_args = SCM_EOL;
diff --git a/libguile/vm-i-scheme.c b/libguile/vm-i-scheme.c
index ee724d633..d4dac80d3 100644
--- a/libguile/vm-i-scheme.c
+++ b/libguile/vm-i-scheme.c
@@ -134,24 +134,30 @@ VM_DEFINE_FUNCTION (cons, "cons", 2)
   RETURN (x);
 }
 
+#define VM_VALIDATE_CONS(x)                     \
+  if (SCM_UNLIKELY (!scm_is_pair (x)))          \
+    { err_args = x;                             \
+      goto vm_error_not_a_pair;                 \
+    }
+  
 VM_DEFINE_FUNCTION (car, "car", 1)
 {
   ARGS1 (x);
-  SCM_VALIDATE_CONS (1, x);
+  VM_VALIDATE_CONS (x);
   RETURN (SCM_CAR (x));
 }
 
 VM_DEFINE_FUNCTION (cdr, "cdr", 1)
 {
   ARGS1 (x);
-  SCM_VALIDATE_CONS (1, x);
+  VM_VALIDATE_CONS (x);
   RETURN (SCM_CDR (x));
 }
 
 VM_DEFINE_FUNCTION (set_car, "set-car!", 2)
 {
   ARGS2 (x, y);
-  SCM_VALIDATE_CONS (1, x);
+  VM_VALIDATE_CONS (x);
   SCM_SETCAR (x, y);
   RETURN (SCM_UNSPECIFIED);
 }
@@ -159,7 +165,7 @@ VM_DEFINE_FUNCTION (set_car, "set-car!", 2)
 VM_DEFINE_FUNCTION (set_cdr, "set-cdr!", 2)
 {
   ARGS2 (x, y);
-  SCM_VALIDATE_CONS (1, x);
+  VM_VALIDATE_CONS (x);
   SCM_SETCDR (x, y);
   RETURN (SCM_UNSPECIFIED);
 }
diff --git a/libguile/vm-i-system.c b/libguile/vm-i-system.c
index fbb94c89a..2da2d4249 100644
--- a/libguile/vm-i-system.c
+++ b/libguile/vm-i-system.c
@@ -621,7 +621,13 @@ VM_DEFINE_INSTRUCTION (goto_args, "goto/args", 1, -1, 1)
 
       /* Drop the first argument and the program itself.  */
       sp -= 2;
-      NULLSTACK (bp->nargs + 1)
+      NULLSTACK (bp->nargs + 1);
+
+      /* Freshen the externals */
+      external = bp->external;
+      for (i = 0; i < bp->nexts; i++)
+        CONS (external, SCM_UNDEFINED, external);
+      SCM_FRAME_DATA_ADDRESS (fp)[0] = external;
 
       /* Call itself */
       ip = bp->base;
diff --git a/module/system/vm/assemble.scm b/module/system/vm/assemble.scm
index 20ea7b5c1..26bc2727b 100644
--- a/module/system/vm/assemble.scm
+++ b/module/system/vm/assemble.scm
@@ -355,6 +355,11 @@
 		(push-code! `(make-int16 ,(ash x -8) ,(logand x (1- (ash 1 8)))))))
 	     (else
 	      ;; Other cases
+              (if (> (+ nargs nlocs) 255)
+                  (error "too many locals" nargs nlocs))
+              ;; really it should be a flag..
+              (if (> nrest 1) (error "nrest should be 0 or 1" nrest))
+              (if (> next 255) (error "too many externals" next))
 	      (push-code! (object->code nargs))
 	      (push-code! (object->code nrest))
 	      (push-code! (object->code nlocs))
diff --git a/module/system/vm/disasm.scm b/module/system/vm/disasm.scm
index 5ec1c004b..efb8ae396 100644
--- a/module/system/vm/disasm.scm
+++ b/module/system/vm/disasm.scm
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@
     (do ((n 0 (1+ n))
 	 (l exts (cdr l)))
 	((null? l) (newline))
-      (print-info n (car l) #f))))
+      (print-info n (car l) #f #f))))
 
 (define-macro (unless test . body)
   `(if (not ,test) (begin ,@body)))
diff --git a/oop/goops/dispatch.scm b/oop/goops/dispatch.scm
index 73f413234..d8b97b6d1 100644
--- a/oop/goops/dispatch.scm
+++ b/oop/goops/dispatch.scm
@@ -179,6 +179,8 @@
 	((not (struct? (car classes))) sum)
       (set! sum (+ sum (struct-ref (car classes) hashset-index))))))
 
+;;; FIXME: the throw probably is expensive, given that this function
+;;; might be called an average of 3 or 4 times per rehash...
 (define (cache-try-hash! min-misses hashset cache entries)
   (let ((max-misses 0)
 	(mask (- (vector-length cache) 1)))
diff --git a/testsuite/Makefile.am b/testsuite/Makefile.am
index 6ff48b5de..8545d86e4 100644
--- a/testsuite/Makefile.am
+++ b/testsuite/Makefile.am
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ vm_test_files =					\
       t-closure.scm				\
       t-closure2.scm				\
       t-closure3.scm				\
+      t-closure4.scm				\
       t-do-loop.scm				\
       t-macros.scm				\
       t-macros2.scm				\
diff --git a/testsuite/t-closure4.scm b/testsuite/t-closure4.scm
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..61258012f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/t-closure4.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+(define (extract-symbols exp)
+  (define (process x out cont)
+    (cond ((pair? x)
+           (process (car x)
+                    out
+                    (lambda (car-x out)
+                      ;; used to have a bug here whereby `x' was
+                      ;; modified in the self-tail-recursion to (process
+                      ;; (cdr x) ...), because we didn't allocate fresh
+                      ;; externals when doing self-tail-recursion.
+                      (process (cdr x)
+                               out
+                               (lambda (cdr-x out)
+                                 (cont (cons car-x cdr-x)
+                                       out))))))
+          ((symbol? x)
+           (cont x (cons x out)))
+          (else
+           (cont x out))))
+  (process exp '() (lambda (x out) out)))
+
+(extract-symbols '(a b . c))